


Where the North Wind Meets the Sea

by Frendtr



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fantasy, Post-Canon, Some shamanism maybe?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23459230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frendtr/pseuds/Frendtr
Summary: Three years after the “Great Thaw”, the life of royal sisters seemed to be perfect. However, a strange dream Elsa had one night changed everything. As a long-forgotten past of Arendelle began to haunt the royal sisters, Elsa had to reflect the question she had avoided for a long time—Why was she the special one?
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna/Elsa (Disney)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 44





	1. Vernal Equinox

**Author's Note:**

> Well I didn't think it would happen, but here we are. Basically, it's kinda like an AU of Frozen 2, so you will find some familiar names in it (because I'm too lazy to come up new names). But, it’s NOT Frozen2.  
> sorry for any mistakes or weird expressions, English isn't my native language.

A warm, moist wind from the southern sea brought the promise of spring. It swept the coast of Arendelle, cheerfully blew the golden crocus flags on the roofs and brought more fuel to the festive atmosphere of the Spring Equinox celebration. Although the sun began to sink into the horizon, the castle square still buzzed with excitement. As musicians came out to the square and set up their instruments for the grand open-air dance party, the gathering crowd pushed the festivities to a new climax.

Queen Elsa was quite grateful for letting her sister, Prince Anna, be in charge of all the arrangements for the Spring Equinox celebration. Personally, she still refused to call the first and also the last spring celebration she arranged a disaster, but, quoting Anna’s words, “it was a grand memorial service of the deceased winter and everyone was solemn and dignified.” It might because she had magical power and could conjure ice from thin air, but winter was always like an old friend to her. She loved the comfort and vitality brought by the crisp wind from the north and the relaxing equilibrium between herself and the world outside provided by the heavy snow that blanketed everything. Naturally, unlike others, the seasonal change was not particularly welcome to her. However, as the queen of Arendelle, she still enjoyed to celebrate the tradition with her people and sister.

It was quite a long day, but both she and Anna had quite a lot of fun. Mr. Blodget served them some really delicious delfiakakes and kransekakes at his stall. Mrs. Eriksen gave her a jar of excellent lutefisk as a gift for letting her family stay in the castle while they renovated their home. And Mr. Ole haraldsen and Miss Karin Naess invited her and Anna to witness their wedding in May. The last one was a bit overwhelming, but Anna promised her it would be great.

Her train of thoughts was interrupted by the cheerful sound of tuba. In the square, girls and boys started to hold each other’s hand, dancing in a large circle. Applause and laughter mixed with the lively music, creating an inviting atmosphere for everyone to participate. Times like this made the young queen regret keeping a fame of ‘I don’t dance’. Now, there was no longer anything she could do anymore besides being a silly royal mascot.

She glanced at her royal steward, who was chatting with a young merchant about the new flavor of mead rolled out by Brother Nilsen Brewery. The chubby old man certainly had a good time. His face was flushed with excitement, and maybe alcohol too.

“Kai, could you please take the celebration from here? I would like go to my bedroom.” Elsa gently asked.

The royal steward turned around quickly and bowed. “Of course, Your Majesty.” After a short pause, he added. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine.” Elsa smiled and nodded. “I’m just a bit tired.”

“Then, I will ask maids to help you undress.” said Kai.

“Oh, no, please don’t, let them have fun.” Elsa quickly waved Kai’s suggestion off. During years of isolation, she already got used to doing everything by herself, and as a queen swamped with duties, the private time before going to bed was always precious for her. “Besides, I’m old enough to take care of myself.” she added half-jokingly.

“Of course you are, Your Majesty.” Kai nodded and asked again. “Should I tell Princess Anna?” There was an unwritten rule in the castle, set by Princess Anna herself, that the princess should always bid the queen goodnight in person.

Elsa hesitated at this suggestion for a moment. In the square, she could see Anna was dancing with Olaf, the snowman whom Elsa had created with her ice magic, in the circle of crowds. They held their hands, rotating round and round with joyful laugh. Her braid crown was loose, and her reddish golden hair was leaping like lively fire in the crowd. She was truly the life of the party and the brightest star in Elsa’s heart.

“Your Majesty?”

Kai’s voice brought her back to the moment. She smiled genuinely and shook her head again. “No, I don’t think so, I don’t think she would mind skipping it once in a while.”

After refreshing herself on the next day’s schedule with Kai, Elsa turned around and walked back to the castle alone, leaving the bustle behind. The royal guards quickly opened the gate for their queen and gently closed it behind her. As the bustling noise became muffled, the young queen felt like the curtain of the grand stage had finally fallen and she was alone once again.

While the silence curled around her like a heavy blanket, strange thoughts began to fester in her mind — another thing she didn’t like about the seasonal change from winter to spring. Every year, around this period, her mind would be filled with weird whims. Sometimes, there was a sudden feeling of sadness without reasons, at other times there was a longing to go somewhere far, far away. It almost felt like a strange nostalgia for something she never had. And as she grew older, those feelings became stronger and stronger. Elsa had never mentioned this to anyone, even to Anna, as a person with dangerous ice magic, the last thing she wanted was making others worry about her. The days she had with Anna and others were precious, she didn’t want to put them at risk.

Half-heartedly, she went back to her bedroom. There was still light outside, so she didn’t light the candle but opened the door to the balcony. The joyful sounds from the distant square cheered her up a bit. She let down her hair, changed into a comfortable velvet nightgown, brushed her teeth and prepared for bed. However, something caught her attention, while she was brushing her hair. She couldn’t tell what it was. It might be the faint music from the square, or the restless breeze blew into her bedroom, or just the golden-rimmed clouds in the northern sky. But a sudden urge made her put down the comb and step into the balcony.

Beyond the balcony, the dark green waters of the fjord stretched ahead in the evening light. The cliffs on both sides of the sea went on for miles, eventually merging with the undulating ridges of the northern mountains. As Elsa gazed at those mountains which seemed to touch the golden sky, she felt an awful anxiety and longing which mounted in her chest.

* * *

When Anna noticed Elsa acting a bit strange, she was walking on the castle’s square with her friends Kristoff and Olaf. The sun had long been set at that time and they just finished the celebration with citizens. At first, Anna tried to do some cleaning. However, the servants refused to let their noble, and a bit clumsy, princess handle those delicate china sets, and Kristoff would like to take his reindeer Sven for a stroll before the sky went completely dark, so she settled for a short evening walk in the castle square with her friends.

When they wandered to the southwest side of the main building, Anna involuntary glanced at the west balcony that led to Elsa’s bedroom and she saw a tall slender figure stood motionless on the balcony. Although it was dark, Anna knew that was Elsa.

“Do you feel that Elsa was a kind of strange today?” Anna paused and narrowed her eyes in concentration. But the solitary figure on the balcony was too far and too dark to see clearly.

“Elsa?” reining in Sven, Kristoff paused and followed Anna’s sight. However, it seemed that him also couldn’t get a clear look.

“She must be enjoying the fjord. the books said that siren will sing to the sailors in the night.” Olaf, who rode on Sven’s back, tried to wave at the figure on the balcony, however the figure was still here, motionlessly.

“No,” Kristoff turned his head back to the snowman and commented jokingly. “I bet she is just being Elsa.”

“Hey!” Anna turned back her sight and quickly caught up with her companions. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The mountain boy slightly shrugged, “I mean, she is the QUEEN of Arendelle. I suppose she has the right to stay alone.”

But Anna wasn’t quite satisfied with this idea. “No one wants to be alone, especially Elsa.”

“Right,” Kristoff murmured. Then, he seemed to recall something and quickly added, “speaking of the queen, today Kai again corrected me again that I should address Elsa as ‘Your Majesty’, at least in official occasion.”

“Ha, Your Majesty!” amused by his words, Anna mocked. “Maybe you should. ROYAL ICE MASTER.”

But the mountain boy quickly fought back. “Well, he also suggested that I also should call you ‘Your Highness’.”

“Ew…”

“Anyway,” as they finally reached the front of the stable, Kristoff stopped. “Here we are. Now I need some time to take care of Sven and I guess you also want to go check Elsa, right?”

“What about you, Olaf?” Anna glanced at the magical snowman who rode on the reindeer. In the first year he was created, Olaf almost tagged along with Anna everywhere she went, now the snowman preferred to stay with Sven and Kristoff. Sometimes, she would worry that she wasn’t cool enough for the snowman anymore.

“Can I feed Sven another carrot?” sliding down from Sven’s back, Olaf asked, expectantly.

“As long as it’s not your nose.” Anna permitted.

“Well, everything is settled.” Kristoff clapped his hands loudly and humorously made a profound bow, “Sleep tight, Your Highness.”

“I’ll bid you good night. Royal Ice Master.” The young princess also tried to curtsy but doubled over with laughter.

After bidding farewell with her friends, Anna quickly ran cross the square and glanced again at the west balcony. Elsa was still here, alone. Anna knew that there must be something not right with her sister, though she didn’t know what it was. It seemed that Elsa became easily distracted lately. Last week, some people saw the young queen wandering along the fjord in a trance. The day before yesterday, when she was talking to the consultants, Elsa suddenly paused and left everyone awkwardly hanging for a quite long time without obvious reasons. Although she quickly excused herself by saying that she was lost for words when she recollected herself, there were still some concerns about the queen’s health in the castle. All those random strange behaviors set Anna alert. It had been three years since Eternal Winter, and the life she and Elsa had was prefect. Honestly, Anna couldn’t ask for more. She had the sister she loved back, and she would fight anything to prevent losing her again.

As Anna finally reached sister’s bedroom, she stood for a few moments catching her breath and knocked the door with her secret code.

“Elsa? It’ me.”

However, Elsa didn’t answer her call, but the door wasn’t lock either. So the redhead quietly opened the door and sneaked into the bedroom. The huge glazed door to the balcony was left open, and the bright moonlight quietly flowed into the room, dying the carpet with a whitish hue. Everything was tidy and the bed was made. The only missing was its owner. Through the door, Anna could see Elsa was still quietly standing at the balcony, holding the railing, facing the fjord on the north side of castle. Apparently, she was going to sleep, she had put on a velvet nightgown and released her blonde braid, but now she was attracted by something else. The bright white moonlight perfectly outlined her graceful beauty and her long platinum blonde hair was just like a frozen waterfall which seemingly gleamed with unearthly radiance.

“Wow.” Anna was almost awed by the sight she saw. She always knew that Elsa was stunning, but it seemed that Elsa could always surprise her in a unique way. However, she also couldn’t help but wonder whether her sister stood there like a statue throughout the whole time. It made her worry about Elsa’s health. Although it was late March, the night of Arendelle was still chill. She knew that Elsa didn’t feel cold, at least not in a normal way, but she could still get sick for all kinds of reasons. Magic didn’t make her invincible. So Anna quietly crossed the bedroom and softly called again.

“Elsa?”

In just a short second, the temperature suddenly dropped to the freezing point and frost was quickly spreading from the railing to the ground, closing in on Anna menacingly. However, in next moment, cool night wind blew the icy air away and the white frost quickly melted into the ground.

“Anna!” the young queen quickly turned around and gave Anna a tight hug, as if she wanted to check that she didn’t accidentally freeze the redhead. Then, she added with a slightly accusatory tone. “You can’t sneak upon me like that, it’s dangerous.”

But Anna didn’t care. The warm hug from her sister alone made the redhead lighthearted. She reassuringly patted Elsa’s back and comforted, “Nah, you would never hurt me.”

“You know that’s a lie.” Releasing her hug, Elsa said seriously.

“Anyway, what’s bother you?” Anna didn’t want to argue with her but swiftly changed the topic before Elsa slipping into the usual self-blaming.

The young queen quickly glanced again at the fjord outside. However, it was already dark and there was nothing besides some faint silhouettes of distant cliffs. Absently, she turned her head back and answered. “Nothing, I guess I’m just too tired.”

“Now, who is the liar?” Anna held her sister’s hands and gently squeezed, helping Elsa to concentrate on herself again. “Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t got bored of staring at the fjord.”

Finally, Elsa smiled.

“I haven’t.” She protested softly. “And I just can’t put it in words. It’s just some disturbing feelings, I guess.”

“Then, you need rest.” Anna said firmly. Then, an idea suddenly crossed her mind. “Wait for me,” yelled the redhead, as she jumped and dashed out of the bedroom. “I know just the right thing for you!”

Bursting through the hallway, Anna crashed into her bedroom like a hurricane. She pulled out her treasure chest from the corner, rummaged through her collections and finally pulled out a large burgundy shawl. It was her mother’s precious. When they were young and weren’t separated, mother would pull her shawl over both of them and sang the ballads of ancient heroes and heroines — this was the only way to make two girls quiet down and go to sleep. Sometimes, she and Elsa would be interested in those strange patterns in the shawl, and mother would say that she will explain to them when they got older.

“Gerda found it during the spring clean-up.” running into Elsa’s bedroom, Anna waved the shawl in her hand and rambled excitedly. “I hope you won’t blame me for secretly keeping it. I was going to give you a surprise. Saving it for a special moment. Like your birthday present or something. But it’s Spring Equinox and looks like you need it right now. And…”

Elsa, who just lit the candle, turned around and carefully put the candle on the nightstand.

“What is it?” said the young queen, as she reached out and took the shawl curiously. However, when she recognized the thing in her hand, her voice became a bit husky. “This’s mon’s old shawl. I… I thought we lost it.”

“Yes! I knew you would like it.” helping Elsa put on the shawl, Anna grinned in satisfaction. “Like I said, save it for a special moment!”

Elsa replied her with a gratefully smile. “I haven’t asked, did everything go well after I left?”

“It was brilliant!” Anna brightened up considerably as she thought of the grand circle dance. The redhead happily whirled around, as if she was still dancing in the square, and finally plumped down on the soft bed. “People were saying that the queen has prepared the best spring celebration in the world!”

“Well, actually, that’s all thanks to YOU.” Elsa chuckled at Anna’s exaggeration and sat down beside her. “They should know it’s you who prepared the best spring celebration in the world.”

However, Anna just shrugged slightly. “No, the only thing they should know is they have the best queen in the world!”

This time, Elsa didn’t say anything. She just sat there, looked at Anna with a quiet smile. As their conversation stopped, Anna suddenly became a bit sheepish at Elsa’s gaze. She quickly attributed it to the silence between them. Not that she didn’t like sitting quiet beside Elsa — she adored every minute of it — but moments like this made her get butterflies in her stomach.

“So, are you going to sleep?” tucking her hair behind her ear, Anna asked.

“I almost forgot that.” Elsa chuckled and turned her gaze to the well-made bed.

Kicking off her shoes, Anna quickly climbed up on the soft bed and patted the mattress next to her. “Then, come here.”

The blonde gave her a curious look for a moment but didn’t refuse. She carefully wrapped the shawl and huddled up next to Anna like Anna snuggled up to her when they were children.

“What are you doing, Anna?” Her voice was soft and tender.

“Just put up with me.” The scent of Elsa’s hair was almost bewitching, reminding her the crisp air of the snowy pine forest. And again, she helplessly rambled in excitement. “No, I mean, it’s your duty to take care of Arendelle and it’s my duty to take care of you.”

“I’m pretty sure there isn’t a law about that.” Elsa softly joked. “The last part.”

“Then, you should announce a law about that.” Anna replied with a silly giggle and cleared her throat, trying her best to recall the lullaby mother sang to them when they were young. Then, she began to croon softly,

**_Where the north wind meets the sea,_ **

“Now, I see what you are doing.” murmured Elsa.

“Shhh, quiet.” Anna put her hand on sister’s platinum hair and gently stroked it.

“Yes, mom.” Elsa softly teased.

Hearing her playful words, Anna’s cheeks flushed. She cleared her throat and announced. "I'm just going to block you out now, because I need to concentrate."

And she tried again, but this time Elsa accompanied her with a reassuring humming, which gave her great encouragement.

**_Where the north wind meets the sea_ **

**_There's a river full of memory_ **

**_Sleep, my darling, safe and sound_ **

**_For in this river all is found_ **

**_……_ **

**_In her waters, deep and true_ **

**_Lie the answers and a path for you_ **

**_Dive down deep into her sound_ **

**_But not too far or you'll be drowned_ **

**_……_ **

With the magical tone of the lullaby, Elsa yawned softly. She curled herself up in her bed, like a sleepy cat, and asked in a half-sleepy tone. “Would you like to stay?”

“Sure!” Anna beamed. “But, I need to brush my teeth first, you aren’t going to like the mead smell. And probably change my dress ...”

However, as she noticed that Elsa had already fallen asleep with a quiet smile, Anna’s voice trailed off. Looking at Elsa’s serene face, she gave a happy sigh and gently tucked the blanket around Elsa. “Have a tight sleep. Sis.” She leaned forward, pressed a light kiss on Elsa’s brow and quietly retired from the bedroom.

With a proud smile, Anna bounced through the hallway, as if she had accomplished the greatest task in the world. The night was young, and the young princess felt that she wasn’t ready for bed yet. After changing into a warm nightgown and brushing her teeth, Anna causally wandered through the castle to wear off her energy. Eventually, she stopped before one of the dormer windows in the hallway. From the window, she could see the moonlit roofs and scattered yellow street lights in the distance. The town, which huddled between the sea and the vertical slope of the mountain, now was quietly sleeping in the moon light.

She used to stay beside those windows a lot, especially after Elsa shut her out after the accident. She liked to gaze at the town and the bustling crowd in the square, imagining how life was like outside the castle. Sometimes, her father would join with her in daydreaming. And she still remembered that she once asked her father why they had to live in the castle.

“Because we are the royal family. This is our home.” Father answered with a smile.

“But there is nothing fun here. Fairy book said that a princess could have all the fun in the world.” She pouted.

“Oh, being a royal doesn’t mean you could have all the fun.” Father stroked her head gently. “It’s a responsibility, it means you have to take care of your people and make the right choice for them.”

Anna didn’t understand father’s words back then, but after the gate was opened, she believed that she began to understand now. This was her home, and somewhere in her heart, she felt that she would never done enough for these people she knew and loved.


	2. A Strange Dream

Elsa was dreaming.

She was travelling in a beautiful land, but not by foot or by horse. She was drifting with the wind or flying in a way that she couldn’t control. The illusory north lights swayed in the dark sky and a vast forest blanketed with heavy snow stretched out beneath her. Although it was dark, her sight was strangely clear. She could saw a meandering river flowed across the land, huge monoliths with strange wood branch decorations scattered in the glades, faint traces of trails extended in the woods. Although there were many hints of human activities, but she didn’t see anyone, she was alone in this vast forest.

In the dream, she tried to figure out where she was. It seemed to be a very important thing. She knew that she was certainly not in Arendelle, but the landscape was very familiar to her. She thought about Corona, a beautiful land where she and her sister spent last summer with their cousin. But according to her cousin, they seldom had snow in Corona. She felt a bit bewildered. As a queen, she wasn’t a frequent traveler. If she visited this land before, she should have recognized it now.

As she continued flying forward, she saw there was a frozen lake inside the forest. Beyond the lake, the terrain rose abruptly, and a mountain covered with snow and ice loomed like a ghost out of the dark. A faint rumbling resounded through the air, like the thunder in the distance. As Elsa drew near that mysterious mountain, she noticed there were a group of people moving along the mountain slope, like a string of ants. They looked like soldiers, wearing some sort of military uniforms and carrying a green-purple flag with them. As Elsa watched them curiously, she heard a faint rumbling began to resound through the air, like the thunder in the distance. The next moment, she saw those people frantically yelling and running, and she quickly realized what happened —— tons of snow and ice began to crash down from the mountain top, like a white flood swallowing everything in its path.

“No!”

In panic, Elsa channeled her magic and tried to stop the devastating avalanche with her magic. But everything was out of control. Numerous snowflakes began to whirl around her, blurring her sight and disturbing her magic. In just a blink, those tiny figures were buried by the flow of snow and ice.

“Let go of me!” She cried.

“Elsa!”

In the chaos of snowflakes, she heard a familiar voice. Like a despair sailor who saw the yellow beacon of the lighthouse in the dark stormy sea, Elsa grasped that voice and forced herself to focus again,

“Anna!” Elsa sat up on the bed, gasping for breath. The first thing she saw was Anna’s pale and worried face. Then, she noticed that the wind carrying with numerous snowflakes were howling in her room, and everything around them was covered with a thin layer of snow.

……

Elsa quietly sit at the corner of the castle kitchen, absently watching Anna making her special hot chocolate. The midnight snacks time was Anna’s idea. After Elsa quickly dispelled the little blizzard in her bedroom, both of the girls felt that it wasn’t a good idea to go to sleep immediately and Elsa knew that she would never get away without fulfilling Anna’s concern and curiosity. To avoid attention, they only brought two small lanterns, because none of the sisters wanted to have a bunch of servants fussing around. Luckily, the kitchen wasn’t covered by the night patrol of royal guards, and they normally wouldn’t have any visitors unless Anna set the kitchen on fire. It was Anna who found this little secret during the isolation period, and she quickly made the kitchen her midnight playground. After the Great Thaw, she also brought Elsa to this little secret base and now it became a sanctuary where they could spend some private time together during the sleepless hours.

“I guess you have to sleep on my bed tonight.” With two big mugs of hot chocolate, the redhead returned to the table and sat down next to Elsa. She handed one mug and teased in a playful tone. “Don’t worry, I will tell Gerda that you didn’t wet your bed....”

“ANNA!”

Elsa stopped the redhead with a blush and tried to avoid continuing that embarrassing topic. The weight of wooden mug reassured her. And she looked down to the dark hot chocolate and sighed slightly.

“Did you have a nightmare or something?” Anna asked curiously. “I heard you were yelling ‘let go of me’, when I was back.”

Elsa had had some nightmares shortly after the Great Thaw, and accidently froze her bedroom serval time in nights. Although Elsa asked the maids not to talk about it, she guessed that gossips died hard.

“Not exactly.” she sipped from the mug. It was overcooked, just like all the hot chocolate cooked by Anna before, but she would never mind the burn taste as long as they were cooked by Anna. She enjoyed the bitter-sweet taste on her tongue and took a moment to organize her thoughts. Finally, she spoke.

“I dreamed that I was flying over a forest in winter.” As she said, she seemed to be brought back to her dream again. “I saw a huge lake and a strange mountain covered with snow.”

“It wasn’t in Arendelle. I don’t know where it was” Elsa hesitated for a moment and added. “But I felt it was very familiar, like I had been that place before. And I saw a group of people on the mountain. A military troop or expedition team. Then, there came an avalanche. Lots of people were dead. I tried to save them with my magic, but I can’t use it, something …… stopped me. I guess that was when you heard me yelling.”

“That’s it?” Anna’s eyes widened in confusion. “I didn’t say it wasn’t a big deal. It certainly explained a lot. It just, just ……” As she continued, her voice got smaller and gradually turned into mumbling.

Elsa doubted that Anna could understand the reason behind her upset. It was so trivial and elusive, even a bit ridiculous — it had been more than two years that she kept her magic in perfectly control, and during this period she had been upset and anxious, but she never accidently froze anything, whether in dream or in waking life, until tonight.

The Eternal Winter was a terrible disaster, and she was grateful that the Arendellians still accepted and loved her as their queen after everything they went through. She worked hard to live up to people’s expectations and to show them that she and her magic were worthy of their trust. But tonight’s incident awakened the long-forgot insecurity.

“No, you don’t know, it feels so real, like I was there, and……” She paused for a moment and sighed. “I’m just worried, I’m always absent-minded in spring, and now my magic run out of control again. I don’t want to let them down, again.”

“Oh……” Anna hesitated for a moment, as if she was trying to understand Elsa’s words. Then, she quickly threw her hands around Elsa’s shoulder and hugged the blonde tightly. “Poor thing, you will never let others down, don’t you understand? You are prefect, you are the greatest queen in the world.”

The warm hug from Anna comforted her a bit, Elsa turned head to the redhead and gave her a weary smile. “But my magic might freeze the kingdom again.”

“No.” Anna answered firmly, “It’s different, you have me now, no matter whatever happens to you, I will find you, and I will bring you back. If you dare run to the ice palace again, I will go there and truss you up and drag you back to the castle.”

Elsa was amused by her words and fought back jokingly. “But Marshmallow will throw you out.”

“No,” Anna shook her head rapidly. “You won’t let him harm me.”

Elsa sighed and admitted that Anna indeed had her point, in a weird way. “Anna, what should I do without you?”

“Too late.” With a wide grin, Anna cuddled up closer and rested her head on Elsa’s shoulder. “You are already stuck with me forever.”

In the dim light of the lanterns, they snuggled together on the bench, enjoying the peaceful moment of the silence. However, little did Anna know, Elsa hidden one trivial thing. Just before she was snapped out of that strange dream, she finally recognized that green-purple flag carried by the standard-bearer, who was soon engulfed by the deadly flow of snow and ice.

It was the golden crocus flag of Arendelle.


	3. Winter of Nordland

Elsa rested her pen on the edge of the ink pot and piled the finished documents at the point farthest from her seat. The warm sunshine of spring made her relax and even a bit sleepy. Although she had a sound sleep after the secret snack-time with Anna last night, she still couldn’t get that strange dream out of her head. The young queen gently squeezed her temples and let her thought drift away. She thought about the beautiful hillside she came across when she wandered along the fjord last week. It was a lovely meadow away from the road, facing the quiet sea — a perfect place to escape the queen’s daily duty. She tapped her fingers on the desk, wondering whether she could have a picnic with Anna on a warm spring day. It was an enticing idea, and Elsa was almost persuaded. Then, she heard a lively voice.

“Psst!”

Turning to the source of the sound, Elsa saw Anna poking her head behind the unlatched door.

“Do you have a moment?” The redhead beamed.

“Right on time.” Elsa stood up and quickly put the unfinished paperwork in order. “Would you like to….”

The queen’s voice trailed off as she saw Kristoff slowly entered the room backwards with one side of a huge framed painting in his hands. Then, Olaf also entered the room, raising both his branch arms as if he was also trying to help. After that, on the other side of the wooden frame, there was Kai with a rather embarrassed look. Apparently, his situation didn’t allow him to greet the queen and this made the well-trained steward a bit uncomfortable. As they came closer to the queen, the chubby old man hastily signaled for Kristoff to slowly put the painting on the floor.

In the meanwhile, Elsa waved her hand to dispense with the formalities and smiled. “Anna, do you know it’s way easier to ask me to go with you instead of moving a huge painting around the castle?”

“Sorry,” the redhead quickly run to Elsa’s side with an excited face. “Just can’t help to. Can’t wait to let you see it. I was thinking about your dream today and felt it’s very familiar. Like …… I might have seen it somewhere before. So, I and Kristoff spent this morning wandering around the castle. And we found this. I was helping to move the painting too, but we met Kai half way and he insisted that it should be moved in a more careful way…”

Elsa smiled and squeezed Anna’s hand to let her stop rambling. “What’s that?”

“Just see it.” Anna winked at Elsa and threw up her hands to the painting. “Ta-dah!”

It wasn’t some extraordinary work, however, the things in the oil painting grabbed her attention. It was a winter night, everything was blanketed with heavy snow. In the center of the landscape, there was a huge frozen lake. Tall pines stood on the bank of the lake, like the walls of a fortress. Beyond the vast frozen water, a mysterious shadow was silhouetted against the starry sky, suggesting a lofty mountain range or a magical mirage.

“It looks kinda like what I dreamed.” Elsa hesitated, but then again, it wasn’t some rare landscape anyway. “Where did you find this?”

“You definitely dreamed this painting last night.” Anna declaring proudly, as she put her arm around Elsa’s waist to pull her closer. “It’s in mom’s old study all along.”

“But how?” Elsa blinked in confusion and turned to look at the redhead. “Why would I dream about this painting, I hardly remembered there was such a painting in mom’s study.”

“You dreamed about this painting?” Olaf amazed and turned to the oil painting. “Oh, there must be some magic in this painting, or it’s because this place itself has magic?”

“Do you know anything about this painting, Anna?” Elsa asked. But the young princess shook her head rapidly.

However, Kai who stood by side of the painting cleared his throat and gently asked. “Your Majesty, might I interrupt for a moment?”

Elsa turned to the amiable royal steward and nodded. “Yes, Kai?”

“It belonged to Queen Iduna. A birthday present from King Agnarr.” Kai looked at the painting, paused for a moment and continued with a little sterner tone. “And that is why it should be handled with the greatest care.”

Anna made a face and mumbled. “Sorry about the vase.”

Elsa couldn’t help to smile at her sister’s confession and squeezed her hand as a punishment. She knew father enjoyed painting in his leisure time, and some of his works were still hanged on the gallery, however she didn’t remember this one. Elsa figured it must be a very old work, may be even older than her.

“Do you know when and where my father painted it, Kai? The view doesn’t look like anywhere in Arendelle.” asked the queen.

“In his study, actually.” Kai smiled as if he remembered something funny. “It’s a secret birthday present painted one or two years after they married.”

“So, the lake in the painting, it’s not a real place?” Elsa blinked.

“I don’t know.” Kai shook his head and added. “But the name of this painting is _Winter of Nordland_ , if that is what you looking for. Your Majesty.”

“Nordland?” Kristoff, who leaned on the wooden frame of the painting, was surprised at Kai’s words. “Wait, it is a real place? I only heard it from the trolls’ stories.”

“Yes, it’s on the other side of the cold waste of north Arendelle. There were some nomadic people called Northuldra lived there.”

“Why did I never heard about those things before?” Elsa frowned slightly. As the queen, she should be well-informed about all the neighboring countries she had, but no one ever mentioned to her that there were some nomadic tribes lived in the wasteland stretching north of Arendelle.

“It’s a tragedy, Your Majesty. People don’t want to talk about it,” Kai hesitated for a moment, seemed to be unsure about how to start this topic. “I wasn’t the royal steward back then, so I didn’t know much. I only knew that King Runeard, your grandfather, led an expedition team to Nordland, but only your father made it home. And when he was back, your mother was also with him. Of course, at that time, she was just a normal Northuldran girl.”

“Wait, what?” Anna yelled in surprise. “You mean that our mother was from this Nordland?”

And now it was Kai’s turn to be surprised. “Did Queen Iduna or King Agnarr never tell you about this?”

Seeing Anna’s questioning look, Elsa shook her head lightly. She was also surprised by Kai’s words. “Mom never mentioned to me her homeland. I thought she was from one of the neighboring countries before she married dad.” Elsa paused for a moment and asked. “What happened back then?”

“Sorry, Your Majesty, but I don’t know much about that.” Kai answered rather quickly. “From what King Agnarr told me, they had a terrible accident in Nordland, some people died, including King Runeard. Others were simply trapped in that place. Back then, Sir Bjarne, my predecessor, had sent a troop to rescue the expedition team. From what I heard, they were stopped by a terrible snowstorm which blocked the passage between Arendelle and Nordland. They set a camp there, waited for one or two months, but the snowstorm never ended. Then people began to fear the worst and said that Nordland must be cursed. So, no one dare to talk it anymore. Neither King Agnarr nor Queen Iduna wanted to talk about the whole thing. After all, they were just children back then. Your father did set an outpost on the border to keep an eye on the snowstorm and to establish contact with the people in Nordland. But the outpost was abolished …… two years before your coronation. No one ever came out, I fear that people have accepted the worst……”

The kindhearted old man stopped with a sad look, but Elsa already knew what did he meant. The room remained silent for a while, as none of them knew how to continue this topic. Finally, Olaf suddenly waved his branch arm and asked. “So, who is ready for a great adventure? The mystery of this Nordland is killing me!”

Snowman’s question enlivened the atmosphere. “Hang on a minute, Olaf.” Anna squatted down and held Olaf’s hand. “We can’t just go wherever we want, there are lots of things need Elsa to deal with.”

However, Olaf’s words seemed to trigger something in Elsa. For some reason, she didn’t immediately dismiss his proposal as other whims the snowman had, but let it linger in her mind for a while. Half-heartedly, Elsa nodded at Kai. “Thanks for your serves. I would like to read some official records about Nordland, if you could find any.” She paused for a moment. “Also please make sure this painting returns to its place safely.”

Kai nodded in understanding. “I will personally take care of it.” Then the steward had a few words with Kristoff, let the young man hold the painting alone and quickly retreated from the room to look for more servants.

Elsa again turned her eyes on the painting. As she studied it closely, the strange familiarity she had in the dream was back, but it became much stronger and was blend with a sort of nostalgia. She found that her eyes couldn’t help lingering on the mysterious shadow beyond the lake. Undoubtedly, it was the mountain she saw in the dream, and although she didn’t want to admit, part of her believed there were more things await her to discover.

“See, you just had a silly dream about this painting last night.”

“Hold on. Let’s not jump to the conclusion.” Starting at Anna’s voice, the young queen withdrew her eyes from the painting and answered rather distractedly. “I didn’t even notice this painting until today.”

“But it must be. Everything you said is there.” Anna pointed at the painting. “The forest, the lake and even that mountain.”

“Anna, there are so many places like this in the world, it might be just a coincidence.” Elsa squeezed her temples and answered, but it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.

“Maybe, I can pay a visit to trolls.” Kristoff, who now moved to the behind of the huge wooden frame to maintain the balance, looked down at the painting and suggested. “I heard trolls talked about this place before. I’m sure they know something about the Nordland and, you know, the curse.”

“Yes, please, that would be very helpful.” Elsa nodded in agreement and quickly raised her hand, conjuring two ice pillars to fix the painting and free the mountain boy from the burden of the wooden frame.

“I will go with you!” Anna cheered immediately, then she looked back at the queen and pleaded with a grin “Please…”.

Surely, Elsa knew that she was in no position to disapprove her sister to tag along, but hearing Anna asking her permission still made her quite happy. She sighed softly and tried to be a bit queenly. “Fine, but be careful.”

* * *

“Let me get this straight.” Kristoff carefully helped Anna slipped down a big boulder. They were near trolls’ home, the Valley of the Living Rock. The trail already became a little rugged for traveling, however, the young princess was overexcited about this short hike and her clumsy mountain skill caused some troubles for Kristoff. “You dragged me into a tourist-trip in the castle to find a painting, just because of Elsa had a bad dream?”

“And created a little snowstorm.” Anna added, as she caught Olaf who jumped off the boulder and put him down to the ground. “But, basically you are right.”

“It’s overreaction, you are spoiling her, you know?” Kristoff commented.

“What? No!” Anna’s eyes widened. “How could that be overreacted? She has a tough time, and I just want her to be happy again.”

“Anna, It’s normal to have tough times. I lost half load of my ice last week, just because I forgot to double check the ropes.” Kristoff replied with a sigh. “Besides, she just had a bad dream, it doesn’t mean she has a tough time, everybody gets them now and then.”

“I don’t have bad dreams.” Olaf bounced forward and said.

“You are just a magical snowman.” Kristoff said rolling his eyes. “You don’t count.”

Sven, who followed Kristoff, gave a loud snore, as if he didn’t agree Kristoff’s idea. While Kristoff wanted to add something, the young princess, who was leading the team now, suddenly yelled in triumph.

“Come! We are here.”

In front of the redhead, there was a rather rocky valley with all kinds of round rocks scattered along the ground. Some rocks were as smooth as cobbles in the river and others were a bit more jagged. Anna knew that those rocks were trolls, or at least some of them were, but it was quite hard for her to distinguish trolls from round rocks. Only Kristoff had enough experiences to tell the differences.

“Shhhh… they are sleeping.” Kristoff speeded up and caught up with Anna.

“Sorry…” Anna made a face. She looked around and lowered her voice. “So, who should we talk to?”

“Grand Pabbie. If anyone knows anything, it must be him.” said Kristoff, as he carefully rounded a big rock on the ground. “Follow my step, be careful with those with moss.”

“They are all covered with moss.” Anna murmured but followed him nonetheless.

They quietly moved some distance, even Olaf didn’t make any strange comments which, in Anna’s opinion, was a remarkable achievement. Finally, Kristoff stopped at a high ground where two immense granites leaned against each other forming a natural shelter. In the shade of the granites, there was a big round boulder which was covered with thick green moss and tied with a string of colourful crystals.

Kristoff gestured Anna to wait for a moment, and carefully squatted down before the big boulder.

“Grand Pabbie?” ask Kristoff.

At first, nothing happened. So, Kristoff asked again. Then, the boulder seemed to swing a little. As Anna rubbed her eyes and looked again. The rock had quickly transformed into an old troll with a mane of hair-like long grass. However, once the old troll saw the bright day light, he shrank a bit and quickly raised his right arm to protect his eyes.

“Too bright.” groaned Grand Pabbie. “Come closer.”

“Oh, Sorry. My fault.” Anna quickly moved forward and held open her cape to block the light.

As the light became dimmer, the old troll finally put down his arm and blinked. “Welcome, Princess Anna and Kristoff. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“I would like to ask you something, a place.” Anna gently replied. “Nordland, have you ever heard it?”

“Nordland…” Grand Pabbie repeated the name slowly. “I haven’t heard people saying that name for a very long time.” He took a pause, as if he was recalling something from memory, then the old troll asked. “Little Anna, tell me, is there anything happened to Queen Elsa?”

“What do you mean?” Anna asked in confusion. “Elsa dreamed a lake and a forest last night. And today, we found one of my father’s paintings had the same landscape. Kai, our steward, said that it’s a place called Nordland, but he didn’t know much about that place. So, I hope you can help me.”

“I see.” Grand Pabbie nodded knowingly. “Nordland is on north of Arendelle, far beyond the North Mountain, and it takes a few days to get there even by horse.” The old troll paused for a moment and added. “Little Anna, it was a dangerous place where spirits walked.”

“Spirits?” Kristoff chimed in. “Hey, I remembered Bulda mentioned them in stories, when I was a kid. She said they are little strange beings with magic powers.”

“Don’t trust Bulda’s fairy tales.” Grand Pabbie paced back and forth anxiously. “Spirits are manifestations of the world itself. Every natural force, every part of nature, fire, water, summer, winter, even a rock or a tree has its spirit.”

“All spirits are living in one place?” Olaf was amazed. “Oh, that must be a quite crowded place.”

“No, they are not living in Nordland.” the Old trolls shook his head. “They are something intangible and only exist in the spirit realm. But Nordland is special, the line between their world and our world is thin in there, so spirits can manifest themselves in front of mortals. Sometimes, you can see them, sometimes you can feel them, like a breeze or a chill cold. But those spirits are powerful and unpredictable. It’d better to leave them alone.”

“Kai said that Nordland is cursed.” Anna asked again. “Was it because of those spirits?”

“I’m sorry, Anna, I don’t know what happened, no one knows what had happened there. The terrible snowstorm cut off the road to Nordland thirty-four years ago, and it hasn’t stopped since then.”

Then, Grand Pabbie took a quite long pause, so long that Anna half-thought that the old troll slept again. Eventually he spoke slowly, as if he had made an important decision. “Anna. There is a thing you should know. Queen Iduna once entrusted me with something, just before her last trip.”

“My mother?”

Grand Pabbie didn’t answer her question but turned around and waddled to a pile of carefully stacked stones in the corner of the huge rock behind him. After searching in the stone pile for a while, the old troll turned back again with a small cylinder in his hand.

He put the silver-gray cylinder into Anna’s hand and sighed lightly. “Queen Iduna once said, if Elsa asked me anything about Nordland, then I should give this to her.”

The cylinder—about a foot long and four inches in diameter—was covered with itching rosemaling patterns which were quite familiar to Anna. Apparently, it had been stored in that stone pile for a long time and already had some traces of rust on its surface. After a close look, Anna recognized that it was one of the storage cans used for preserving important documents on Arendellian royal ships. The cap of the container was sealed by wax which was partly chipped off but still served its purpose well. She gave it a gentle shake but heard no sound from inside.

“Did my mother say what’s inside?” Anna turned to Grand Pabbie and asked in confusion.

“She just said that she hoped Elsa would understand her choice one day.” sighed Grand Pabbie. After a short pause, the old troll quickly added. “But I guess it might have something to do with her magic.”

Anna silenced. Apparently, her mother thought there was some sort of connection between Elsa and this Nordland, but she somehow chose to keep it as a secret. Looking at the cylinder in her hand, Anna couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything else which her parents kept away from her and Elsa. Considering that they already made some serious bad decisions about keeping secrets, this idea made her feel sad, even a bit angry.

“I believe she had her reasons.” Grand Pabbie put his rocky hand on Anna’s and comforted. “Parents always want the best for their children.”

She nodded and smiled, but rather wearily. Of course she knew that. Ironically, this was exactly why Elsa and she had suffered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The spirit will play a very important role in the story. but different from the four spirits in frozen II, spirits in this story is more similar to its original roles in shamanism or animism: they are invisible supernature entities. Some of them are just weak local spirits, others might be extremely powerful, even serves as Northuldran gods.


	4. A Letter from Mother

Anna didn't appear at the dinner table. A maid, whose name Elsa believed was Signe, said that Anna had informed the kitchen that she had something in town and felt like skipping her dinner and staying in her bedroom tonight. Elsa nodded with a little disappointment and told Signe to serve the dishes. It wasn’t rare that Anna wanted to eat informally in the town, sometimes Elsa also would join her. However, considering she was so enthusiastic about visiting trolls and discovering the secrets of Nordland, Elsa felt a bit weird that Anna didn’t rush into her room, rambling all the trivial things she learnt from the trolls as soon as she got back.

She ate her dishes half-heartedly while planning about having a sisterly chat with Anna in her mind after the dinner. Kai found lots of old documents about Nordland this afternoon — it seemed that her father had deliberately collected all the related documents and locked them in one of his private bookcases. Most of the documents were boring official records and trade agreements, however, among those official files, there was a diary from her father. From the few glances, Elsa found it contained some pieces which were written during the Nordland exploration thirty-four years ago — she guessed that was probably why it was locked in the bookcase with other files. Although there wasn’t much details about the exploration, since her father was just a fourteen years old child at that time, Elsa was sure that Anna would be eager to read it.

With a smirk, Elsa went through the hallway to Anna’s room. The door of the bedroom was slightly ajar. And before she could knock it, the young queen heard Anna’s uncertain voice came from inside.

“Do you think I should give it to Elsa?”

“Give me what?” Elsa opened the door and asked curiously.

As soon as Elsa stepped in the door, Anna who was lying on the bed gave a little start and hurriedly turned over to hide herself. However, she accidently rolled off the bed with a little exclamation. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, both Kristoff and Olaf simultaneously jumped out of their chairs, looking at the queen nervously.

“Kristoff!” The presence of Kristoff in her sister’s bedroom slightly surprised Elsa. “Why you are still in Anna’s bedroom at this time? It’s already late! If anyone knows, it will be a……” She paused for a short moment, while the mountain boy’s nervous facial expressions told her that she might be a bit overreacted. The young queen swallowed the word “scandal” into her stomach and added softly. “……very inappropriate thing.”

“I …… just escorted her here.” The mountain boy stammered. “Need go now, just …… remember that it’s time for me to brush Sven. Olaf, do you want to join me?”

“Oh, I guess I will be fine to stay……” Olaf murmured for a moment but then, after Kristoff gave him a wink, he quickly changed his mind. “Oh! Yes! I would love to.”

“I’m fine! Don’t worry, see you tomorrow.” Anna raised a hand behind the bed and waved goodbye to her friends.

As Kristoff basically dragged Olaf away from the room, Elsa closed the door and sighed. “Anna.”

Hastily, the redhead climbed up the bed from the ground and grinned nervously. “Is everything fine? Oh how is your dinner? Sorry, I’m not there, but when I’m back, I was super super hungry, so I and Kristoff had sandwiches outside.”

“Everything is fine.” Although amusing by sister’s rambling, Elsa tried to be serious. “You should be more concerned about your action, after all, you are the princess of Arendelle.” said Elsa, as she helped the redhead stand up.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” Anna answered absently and tried to hid the right hand behind her back. “Anyway, what brings you here?”

“Kai found some old things about Nordland.” Elsa reached out her hands, gently helping the redhead tidy her hair. “I think there is one thing you might be interested.”

“Oh, that’s great.” Anna giggled silly and shifted her body a bit, still trying to hide her right hand from Elsa. “What it is?”

“Dad’s old diary, he mentioned about visiting Nordland with grandpa in it.” Elsa answered and curiously leaned forward, wanting to see what Anna was hiding. However, the redhead again dodged Elsa’s peek.

“What are you hiding?” Elsa curiously leaned forward, wanting to see what Anna was hiding. However, the redhead again dodged Elsa’s peek.

“Anna…” Elsa changed into a queenly tone. “What’s in your hand?”

“Nothing!” the redhead shook her head rapidly. 

“Then, I’m leaving now.” said Elsa.

“Really?” Anna blinked, and seemingly didn’t believe she could get away so easily.

And of course, Elsa wasn’t a girl who gave up easily. While the redhead was hesitant, she suddenly reached out to grab Anna’s right hand and tried to snatch the thing from the redhead. With an exclamation, Anna tried to shift her body to defend. With laugh and scream, the snatch game quickly developed into a playful struggle, as if they were two kids fighting for the last piece of the desert.

Eventually, both girls fell on the bed side by side. With a victorious smile, Elsa finally began to examine the trophy in her hand. It was a metal storage capsule, a very old one. She tried to find out which ship it belonged to by checking its nameplate, however the text was too worn and rusty to read. So, she turned her head to Anna with a questioning look.

“I got it from Grand Pabbie.” Anna turned over on the bed, lying in bed on her stomach, and hesitated for a moment. “Mom gave it to him six years ago, and she told him to give it to you if you are asking anything about Nordland.”

“Six years ago?” Elsa blinked.

“Just before their last sailing.”

A sense of sadness and loss suddenly enveloped the young queen, she tried to hide her emotion by replying softly with a simple “oh.” The small cylinder in her hand seemed to become much heavier.

“If you don’t want it, we can just put it in THAT attic.” suggested Anna.

Elsa knew what did Anna mean. After their parents passed away, servants moved some of the later king and queen’s personal belongings to one of the attics, thinking it might help two girls to overcome the tough time. In truth, it didn’t.

“No. I can handle it.” Elsa shook her head and forced a smile out of her lips. The cap of the capsule yielded with difficulty, but at last it came off, liberating an aromatic odour. Inside the metal can, the contents, two scrolls, were in a good condition.

The first thing Elsa drew out was a yellowed map. The signature said it was made by Mr. Geir Pettersen, who Elsa knew had made more than half of the maps in the royal library, but, neither Elsa nor Anna could tell where the map was from the first sight. Most of the land features didn’t have labels, and those with labels were quite strange to them. However, there was one particular label, which marked a mountain by a huge lake, caught Elsa’s attention. Apparently, this label was added afterwards, written in a graceful calligraphy, different from the neat handwriting of Mr. Geir Pettersen. More important, Elsa recognized it was her mother’s handwriting —

**_ Ahtohallan _ **

“Ahtohallan?” Elsa repeated the name again. It sounded somehow familiar, but she couldn’t place it. 

Both girls studied the map for a while, trying to find any instruction or explanation. But besides some strange names, they got nothing. In the end, Elsa carefully placed it on the bed in bewilderment and pulled out the other scroll. This time, it was a letter. And the second Elsa saw the wax seal on it, her heart was clenched.

It was a letter from her mother.

The young queen quickly sat up from the bed, waiting Anna to follow her and cuddle close. Then, with a shaking hand, she slowly unfolded the letter.

**_ My dearest Elsa, _ **

**_ I and your father will soon sail across the Dark Sea, trying to bypass the snowstorm, and eventually, I hope, we could find a way to Nordland. We will go to Ahtohallan and finish the thing we should do years ago. It’s our debt, and by fixing it, we wish you could finally find your peace. _ **

**_ However, if you are reading this, it means we have failed and you have stepped into your own destiny. It also means that I might not be around anymore. Please don’t be sad. We all made our choices and we all have our journey. I just wish life isn’t cruel to you. _ **

**_ I can’t say I know what you are planning to do, but I left the map to Ahtohallan with this letter. I wish it could at least give you some help. Please don’t doubt yourself. I believe you will do the right thing. You always do. But beware, don’t trust anyone with your power. It’s magnificent and dangerous at the same time. _ **

**_ I want you know we have never regretted for one day having you as our daughter and never will. You and Anna are the greatest gift that life gave to us. _ **

**_ Please take care of Anna. _ **

**_ We will always love you, so will Anna. _ **

**__ **

**_ Mom _ **


	5. Old Scar

“There are lots of people here.” peeping through the door, Anna said.

“Really?” asked Elsa, wringing her hands nervously.

It had been four days since she and Anna read the letter from their mother, and Elsa still felt a touch of sadness, even guilty, when she thought about their parents. Anna tried to comfort her, and told her that she shouldn’t be responsible for their parents’ choice, nor the wreck—just as mother said in the letter, they all made their own choice—however, it didn’t make things easier. The letter torn open an old wound, and it took time to heal.

On the other hand, the letter brought up more questions than answers. For a long time, she and Anna, and everyone in the castle, thought the last trip of their parents was just a ordinary diplomatic trip. But the letter suggested that their parents had a completely different plan which had something to do with the expedition led by King Runeard . Then, there were words about her destiny and her ice magic. All those mysteries gave the queen an uneasy feeling that it was just the tip of the iceberg.

She and Anna spent lots of time on checking all the official documents in past few days, trying to find the information about the King Runeard’s expedition. However, what they found was too fragmentary to reveal the whole picture. Without any other choices, Elsa issued an order two days ago, inviting anyone who knew anything about the King Runeard’s expedition to the great hall of the castle. It was a long shot, and she didn’t put much faith in it. After all, it had been almost thirty-four years, even if there was something worth mentioning, it would be long forgot.

But the number of people now gathered in the hall was totally unexpected.

“More than a dozen.” Anna peeped again and nodded firmly.

Elsa bit her lip but resisted the urge to take a peep inside like Anna did. Years of training told her it wasn’t proper for a queen to do that, nor for a princess, but Anna was Anna.

Meanwhile, Anna turned her head to Kai and asked curiously. “Are you sure they all know things about that expedition? It was a loooong time ago. I thought there would be three or four people at most.”

“Many people lost their friends and families in that tragedy. Some of them were even from the nearby villages.” Kai explained patiently and turned to look at the queen. “Many of them still hope they would come back one day, no matter how little the hope is.”

“I see.” Elsa nodded. From the royal steward’s worried eyes, she could easily read his implication. The only thing worse than losing hope was to give people hope, then take it away. But Elsa knew she needed this, so did Anna. If she gave up now, the mystery and guilt of their parents’ death would haunt her for the rest of her life. So, she put down her wringing hands and put on to her calm face. “Let’s not keep them waiting.”

Nodding knowingly, Kai opened the gate with a loud announcement. 

“Queen Elsa of Arendelle, Princess Anna of Arendelle.”

As they stepped into the hall, the whisper in the hall quickly died out. People who were waiting before the throne turned to the them and bowed respectfully.

“Good morning, everyone.” Elsa nodded in return and quickly glanced over the people before them. There were about twenty people in total, looking expectantly at her. Most of them were look familiar to her, some she even knew by names.

The queen took a breath and continued. “As many of you might know, recently, I and Princess Anna found a letter from our mother. In the letter, she mentioned an expedition led by the late King Runeard, thirty-four years ago. But some pieces are still missing. So, if any of you know any details about that expedition, we would like to hear from you.”

“Queen Elsa!” As soon as Elsa finished, a bald man with a bristling, grizzled mustache who stood at the front of the crowd called out immediately. “Did Queen Iduna, may her soul rest in peace, mentioned my brother in her letter? His name is Knut Nilsen. He has blonde hair and a scar on his left cheek. He was one of the coachmen in the team.”

“And my father Karl Berg? Your Majesty!” A brunette middle aged woman, Ida Karldotter, if Elsa remembered correctly—she knew her was a waitress in the Blue Fish cafe. “He was one of the guards of King Runeard. Is he alive?”

“Do you know where are them right now?” A man in the middle of the crowd asked loudly.

“My husband! Your Majesty! Do you have any news about my husband?” An old lady on the left side pleaded.

……

Suddenly, everyone in the room was trying to ask questions about their families or friends. The different voice mixed together, turning the hall into a noisy chaos. 

The flood of questions overwhelmed the queen immediately. Hands were waving urgently before her eyes, trying to catch her attention. For a moment, she felt like an unsettled mother, trying too hard to answer every impatient child. Then, Anna’s voice pulled her out of the trance.

“Everyone, listen to me!”

Before she could notice, Anna already stepped between she and the eager crowd. The young princess opened her arms as if she wanted to keep the people away from the queen. And Kai soon joined her and tried his best to let the crowd calm down.

“Anna.” Elsa called out softly. But her words were drowned out by other voices.

“EVERYONE, Listen to me!” Anna called out louder.

This time, it worked.

As the voices gradually quieted down, everyone was looking at Anna now. The redhead quickly looked back at Elsa and gave her a reassuring smile. Then, she continued. “I’m sorry but our mother’s letter didn’t mention any details. However, I and Elsa,” Anna paused for a moment and corrected. “I and Queen Elsa understand your concern. And I promised you that we will find out what happened to your love ones.”

“Yes.”

After the initial hesitation, Elsa finally spoke. She stepped forward to stand with her sister side by side and glanced over the people around them. With Anna by her side, her voice again became clam and solemn. “You have our words. And we will try our best to find your love ones and bring them back to Arendelle again, if they are still alive.”

Elsa paused for a moment and glanced at Kai who also nodded in return. She then continued. “But to do that, we need your help. Right now, we will talk to all of you, and I wish you could tell us everything you know about King Runeard’s expedition. So that we find out what really happened thirty-four years ago.”

Her firm words soothed the anxiety on people's faces. Although some of them were still looked at each other uncertainly, most of people seemed to accept their queen’s suggestion.

“Now, everyone please followed me to the meeting room.” Kai quickly added. “I will arrange a list there, and Queen Elsa and Princess Anna will receive you one by one in the private chamber.”

* * *

It turned out that talking with twenty people was much more exhaust than Anna thought. She and Elsa spent almost the whole morning sitting in the private chamber, listening those anxious people talking about things in the past.

Anna learnt a lot of things from them: the blacksmith Alf Hansen’s brother was a great craftsman, he was recruited to maintain and repair the carriages; Einar Pedersen’s mother was the best cooking maid in the castle, she joined the expedition team because King Runeard would paid double to have her cooking for them; both Daniel Olsen and his brother signed up for the jobs, but Daniel got ill the day before leaving and they never met again; the baker Halima Haugen’s fiancé Destin Mattias was a royal guard, and they were supposed to get married when he came back from Nordland……

Hearing their stories was heart-breaking, and Anna could tell that most of them had yielded to the reality that they would never meet their families and friends again, but Elsa ignited their hopes once again, because that was what Elsa always did. And she was proud to be part of it. On the other hand, she became more skeptical about her grandfather’s plan. Arendelle was a very small and quiet country, and she couldn’t find any reason to justify leading so many people into a wilderness in winter. However, the pieces she had right now were still too trivial and fragmentary.

While Kai walked the last guest out of the castle, Anna took Kai’s notebook and glanced again at the long list of names they had. Then, she heard Elsa sighed softly. “Anna, what should I do now?”

“It’s what should WE do now.” She turned her head to Elsa, only found the blonde was looking at her worriedly. So, she tried to dismiss the blonde’s anxiety with a bright grin. “It was me who promised them that we will find out what happened to those people, remember?”

Elsa smiled lightly and joked “Then, my brilliant Princess Anna, what should we do now?”

Ignoring her playful tone, Anna quickly pointed out the most obvious answer. “Paying a visit to Nordland would be a good start.”

But Elsa just pressed her temples and grunted. “Anna, do you know how hard it would be to explain to my counsellors why their queen need to adventure into a cursed land?”

“You don’t have to.” Anna shook her head and puffed up her chest. The fire of pride was blazing in her heart. What could be possibly more worthy than doing something great for her people **AND** helping her dear sister at the same time? She announced proudly. “I can help……”

“Don’t even think about it.” Elsa extinguished the little fire in her heart without hesitation.

“Why?!” Anna closed the notebook and protested unwillingly. “It wasn’t that far. I have checked the map and it will be just a short trip. A week at most!”

“Don’t you forget the everlasting snowstorm? You don’t even have the power to cross it.” Elsa pointed out. “Let alone protecting yourself on the road.”

Anna pursed her lips, racking her brains to find a word to fight back, but she failed. 

“May be you need a spring vacation to relax. Your Majesty.” Kai, who had come back after escorting the guests, suggested while moving the chairs back to their original places.

“Vacation?” Looking at her steward, Elsa blinked in confusion.

“Yes, with Princess Anna.” Kai smiled and nodded at the queen. “You have been working hard lately, and I heard it’s great to head north at this time of year.”

“Right! Vacation!” Before Elsa could realize what did Kai mean, Anna already jumped out of her chair and gave the steward a tight hug. But the chubby old man wasn’t quite comfortable with the princess’s enthusiasm, and lightly coughed to remind the overexcited redhead.

“Right, I know, I know, being a lady.” the redhead stepped back with a little embarrassment, and turned around to look at Elsa expectantly.

“Well, I guess a spring vacation won't harm anyone.” sighed the queen.

……

In Anna’s opinion, the “private-family-vacation” was a brilliant idea.

Although the whole thing was quite impromptu, and there were some concerns about the royal family's safety, Elsa didn’t meet any real objections when she mentioned the town officials about her vacation plan. After all, as Kai said, she really deserved a vacation. Kai helped her re-scheduled all the important events and suggested the queen to bring some guards with them, considering the nature of the “vacation”. But Elsa was quite confident with her magic and preferred traveling with just her friends, so the royal steward didn’t insist but still made some suggestions for their own personal safety.

Meanwhile, Anna took charge of the travel preparations voluntarily. She told Gerda and other servants to prepare hunting dresses, travelling cloaks, food and other supplies for them, pulled out an old carriage which was used by their parents from the warehouse, and even managed to get a fine short sword from Captain Gundersen to arm herself, which troubled Elsa a lot. To keep their secret, Anna asked Kristoff and Olaf to be their guide and coachman. And as the reward, Kristoff was granted a new title — ‘the Arendelle Royal Coachman’ — and another reindeer at his command.

On the day they departed, Kai and Gerda went to the castle square to see them off. Both old servants seemed to be a bit worried about two royal sisters, especially Kai who schemed the trip with them secretly. After all, they were used to treating both sisters like families instead of masters in years of service. And for the first time, the young queen gave both old servants a light hug to comfort them.

“Please take care of Arendelle for me.” Holding their hands, the queen asked softly.

Although it seemed to be a bit overwhelming for both old servants, Anna felt sincerely happy for Elsa. Years of isolation made Elsa always clumsy at interacting with people other than Anna, but she was still trying her best to show her feelings from time to time, which made Anna be proud of her dear sister. And to demonstrate the “right way” of hugging, Anna cheered and hugged both old servants together tightly until Gerda patted her on the back. “Okay, dear, that’s enough. You are strangling me now.”

But Anna knew they like it, even Kai, the master of court etiquettes, didn’t complain.

“Take care of your sister, dear.” When Anna finally released them, Kai said in her ear.

Anna turned her head to look at Elsa, who now sat in the carriage and was also looking at them, then she nodded firmly and stepped in the carriage. “Time’s flying, let’s go now, Kristoff!” the redhead yelled loudly, trying to hide her sadness at the departure. Leaving the castle and knowing that she won’t come back soon made her feel sad. Looking at the receding castle and two old servants, she somehow thought about her parents and their last trip, wondering what did they think when they stepped into that doomed ship.

However, her whim didn’t last long. As the carriage lumbered out of the town and drove into the woods, the young princess was already in good spirits. She and Elsa leaned on the front seats chatting with Kristoff and Olaf who drove the carriage about the weird folklore and tales among Arendellian. Olaf was definitely a barrel of laughs, and Kirstoff had a strange talent to make up the weirdest stories Anna ever heard. However, Elsa got bored over time and brought out the father’s old diary from her satchel for killing time.

The diary was a quite big tome, in Anna’s opinion, like those weighty codex books no one bothered to read in the royal library. It had a brown frayed hardcover with a gilt stamped crocus on the spine. The yellowed pages were a bit loose, so Elsa always carefully wrapped it and carried it in her satchel. Anna hadn't gotten much of chance to read it — since she was busy with preparing the travel and Elsa always wanted to read it whenever she had time — but from what she had read, the father in the diary was much different from the gentle, sometimes serious, father Anna knew in real life, after all, he was just a fourteen-years-old boy full of adventurous ideas at that time. She had to admit that it was very interesting, even a bit funny, to see this side of her father.

However, right now, Anna could only eye the diary, while Elsa constantly turned those pages back and forth with a smile. Sometimes, the blonde would frown slightly or giggled knowingly, which aroused Anna’s curiosity even more. But every time Anna demanded her to share, Elsa would refuse and tease that she was too young to read them. Eventually, it evolved into a playful fight between two girls. And Anna managed to pin her sister down until Elsa finally agreed to share the secret of father’s diary.


	6. Snow Storm

* * *

**_King Agnarr’s diary_ **

**_3rd September, 1808_ **

_Father asked me to join the join his journey to Nordland today. He said he will bring a diplomatic corps along with us, and I can learn a lot of things from them._

_I haven’t visited Nordland before, but I met some nomads from there last year when I and father went to their trade camp in Weide Valley. They were very different from us, living in small tents, travelling around with their reindeers. But overall they were quite friendly and I made some friends among them._

_Destin also told me that farther is organizing an expedition team and will stay in Nordland for a few months. Sounds very interesting. I asked father whether I could join the expedition team. But he refused._

_Bummer._

_Hope I can find a way to prove to father that I’m not a child anymore, and can play a good part in the team._

_Also looking forward to meet that Northuldra girl called Iduna again. We had a fun time last year and she said that she will teach me how to ride a reindeer and fishing on ice next time we meet._

* * *

“She will teach me how to ride a reindeer……?”

Giggling at the words in her father’s diary, Anna turned her head to Elsa who was watching the scenery through the window.

It was the third day afternoon of their travelling. They had passed the North Mountain yesterday, and Anna believed that they must be near the north border of Arendelle now. Hills with pine forests had gradually gave place to a rugged rocky tundra with scattered bushes. The weather was much gloomier and windier than it was in Arendelle. Sometimes, Anna could even spot snow and ice in the shades, as if the spring hadn’t visited this place yet. Last night, Kristoff told them that he had never been this north before, and the only thing they could rely on was the compass and the map now.

“You will definitely be surprised by mom,” Elsa turned her head back with a smile on her face. “she was—not like her at all when she was thirteen.”

“Well, I guess that time changes everything.” Olaf who sat beside Anna commented.

“Now, you are being sentimental.” Anna turned a page and sassed. Then, she thought about something and paused. “Did dad mentioned what grandpa was looking for in the dairy?”

“I’m not sure.” Elsa shook her head lightly. “He mentioned the name in mom's letter. _Ahtohallan_. And he said it have something to do with King Aren.”

“Wait, King Aren? You mean the First King Aren?” Anna blinked in confusion. But Elsa confirmed her with a light nod.

“Who’s that?” asked Olaf.

“Our ancestor, the first king of Arendelle.” Anna turned to the snowman and explained patiently. “We love his stories when we were kids. The legend said that he climbed upon the highest mountain and stole the power of gods. And with that power, he ripped the mountains apart, creating the Aren fjord we lived and turned Arendelle from a frozen wasteland into a paradise for his people.”

“Oh, that sounds epic!” Olaf cheered. “I wondered where is that power now; it could be handy now.”

“The legend said that King Aren returned the power to gods.” Elsa replied. “He found it was too dangerous to use, and said that no mortal has the will and wisdom to possess that kind of power. It could turn the wasteland into the paradise, it could also turn the paradise into a wasteland in a blink of an eye.” Elsa paused for a moment and gave a light laugh. “Actually, at that time, I thought that dad made it up to tell me that I shouldn’t use my power for fun.”

“You think that they were looking for King Aren’s secret, like magic, or the power of gods?” asked Anna.

“I don’t know.” Elsa answered rather coolly, suggesting that she wasn’t fond of this idea. However, her tone quickly became soft. “But if they were, it certainly explains why King Runeard was willing to venture to the north with so many people in winter.”

Anna bite her lips.

She knew that Elsa had very complicated feelings about the magic. In one of their pillow talks, Elsa had described her magic as an overwhelming power that was tied to her temper.

“When you concentrate all your mind on it, suddenly everything around you seems to disappear and you would feel free in the world, and think you are able to do anything with a single mind.” Elsa had said. “Sometimes, it’s also quite thrilling, like…sliding down the banister when we were kids.”

Although it was still hard for Anna to imagine what it was like, she believed that it must be a joyful experience — Every time Elsa decorated the hall with ice ornaments, or created an ice rink for kids, her cheeks would glow with excitement and her eyes would shine brighter. However, it could also pose a great danger if things went wrong. Although it only happened once — when Elsa had lost control of her temper in her coronation day, the resulting blizzard almost destroyed the entire Arendelle kingdom with ice and snow. And this incident, though, for which Anna thought she was partly to blame, had a great impact on Elsa. Sometimes, Anna even thought that Elsa was more afraid of her magic than anyone else.

Suddenly, the carriage stopped, pulling Anna back to reality. She heard Kristoff knocking at the front wall of the carriage.

“Girls,” the mountain boy’s voice was a bit uncertain. “I think we are here. You’d better take a look at this.”

“Finally!” jumping out of the seat with a giggle, Olaf reached his branch hand to open the carriage door. “I start to feel that my joints are froze now.”

“You don’t even have joints.” following the snowman, Anna teased. Indeed, they had stayed in the carriage for so long that she felt she was going to root in the seat. However, as soon as Olaf opened the door, the chilly wind poured through the opening. Although the snowman was completely unaffected by the bad weather and already bounced out of the carriage, Anna, who stood right before the door, immediately flinched back at the sudden coldness.

“Take your cloak.” laughing at the redhead’s awkwardness, Elsa tossed a mauve heavy cloak on her.

As she finally managed getting into the cloak after a short struggle, Anna became the last person who stepped out of the carriage. The place where they stopped was the top of a rather bleak hill, a rocky terrain scattered with short bushes and crusted snow. The cold wind whistled across the barren land, making the redhead shiver involuntarily. However, as Anna looked ahead and tried to catch up to others, she suddenly froze in awe.

It was the most miraculous view she had ever seen, even Elsa’s magnificent ice palace on the North Mountain was nothing but a child toy by comparison. At the foot of the hill, there stretched a vast tundra covered with thin ice and snow. And beyond the tundra, an ever-rolling snowstorm extended endlessly to right and left alike, without any signs of diminishing. At this distance, the raging snowstorm seemed to be almost tangible, reminding Anna of a vast mountain-range that towered into the clouds. However, the shape of the mountain of dancing snowflakes was continuously shifting, briefly exposing the rocky hills inside it and devouring them again immediately. Strangely, the snowstorm wasn’t moving toward any directions. It just lingered at the far-end of the tundra, as if it was a fearsome rampart built by giants in fairytales, preventing anyone to get a glimpse beyond.

“To be honest,” climbing down from his seat on the carriage, Kristoff gathered his heavy cloak and grunted. “I didn’t expect this when they said the word ‘snowstorm’.”

* * *

They parked the carriage at the lee of the hill, moved supplies to Sven and the other reindeer and decided to give a close look of the problem lying before them. Although Olaf was quite excited about the idea of rushing into a furious snowstorm, others had more things to worry about. Elsa suggested that Anna and Kristoff, even Olaf, should wait outside, or return to Arendelle, and she would venture alone into the snowstorm and try to find a way through it. But her idea was rejected by Anna and Kristoff immediately.

“I’m not questioning your magic.” Kristoff flung a coil of rope over his shoulder and checked his tools again. “But it’s not about cold and wind. You can barely see anything once you are inside. And if you get lost, we can’t help you.”

Elsa opened her mouth to refute the mountain boy, but only found that he was right. Even though her magic could protect her from the coldness, it didn’t mean that she won’t get into trouble when she went into a tempest. Reluctantly, Elsa asked. “Then, what’s your suggestion?”

Looking at the rolling snowstorm, Kristoff seemed to be hard up for ideas. After a long pause, the sturdy mountain boy turned his head back and sighed. “We can take a close look first and decide later.” scratching his head, he continued, with little confidence. “Maybe we could find a narrow pass between two hills where the wind isn’t so strong.”

“No matter what happens, we should do this together.” Anna concluded firmly.

“Oh, oh, I’m just gonna lead the way.” With a silly, cheerful smile, Olaf turned around and waddled towards the snow-covered tundra. “Don’t worry, I guess it will be fun.”

No, stepping on the crusted snow, heading towards a wrathful tempest wasn’t fun at all. Although Elsa didn’t bother about the freezing weather, wind still troubled her greatly. The intermittent gusts of wind, with snowflakes mixed in, still blinded her from time to time. To make things even worse, there were some vague suggestions of other barely-heard voices in the cadences of the wind. She couldn’t tell what they were, nor where they came from, but couldn’t help to recall those arctic exploration stories she had read in books which claimed that superstitious sailors could hear strange voices in the wind and took it as an ill omen for coming disaster.

However, others didn’t seem to be troubled by those mysterious voices, which made Elsa wonder whether it was just her hallucination. but then again, others already had great trouble to keep moving in the terrible weather. Anna’s steps had become visibly stiffer and slower, Even Kristoff, the sturdy mountain boy who was used to the bad weather in the North Mountain, had to stop and turn around from time to time, waiting the fierce wind to calm down.

“Eek!” As they were walking across an exposed rock surface, Anna suddenly slipped on ice and almost dragged Elsa to the ground together. Luckily, Elsa grabbed her in time, and a magical snowbank which was quickly conjured beneath Anna‘s hips cushioned her fall.

“Kristoff!” calling out towards the mountain boy, who was several steps ahead of them, Elsa bent down to help her little sister up.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, don’t worry!” The stubborn redhead comforted Elsa with a forced smile and slowly stood straight.

But Elsa knew it was a lie. Although the redhead was wrapped in her heavy winter cloak, Elsa still could felt that she was shivering like a leaf when she held Anna in her arms. Seeing her little sister like this brought out some guilt in her — Anna was just an ordinary girl grew up in the castle, but she always followed her without regret or hesitation, and she always failed the duty of being a good sister.

“I need a rest anyway.” Elsa lied and helped Anna dust the snow off her cloak. “Besides, it’s too dangerous to get any closer.”

“I agree.” Kristoff raised his voice, trying to surpass the wild whistling of the wind. His eyebrows, and the hair under the brim of his hat, were already caked with snowflakes, which made him look both awkward and funny. The mountain boy, perhaps noticing the smile in Elsa’s eyes, quickly wiped his face with his hand and added. “It’s close enough. We shouldn’t go anywhere nearer unless we could find a pass where the wind is weaker.”

Elsa nodded in understand and glimpsed at the snowstorm worriedly. They had not yet reached the outer rim of the snowstorm, but the wind had become so fierce that she could hardly open her eyes and looked into the storm. Numerous snowflakes and ice crystals were flying in the air, agilely and elusively, like a grand and wild waltz. At this spot, the snowstorm was very different from what they saw from the top of the hill. The tangible white rampart was gone. Instead, it became a white chaos of dancing snowflakes and ice crystals that enveloped everything before them.

Inside the furious storm, Elsa could vaguely discern the faint shapes of the hills and rocks in the distance. Much to her surprise, although there were numerous snowflakes dancing in the air, the ground was only covered with a thin layer of snow — at some place, she could even see bare rocks and hills — as if the snowstorm just started a few minutes ago. Then, she suddenly realized that the so-called “snowstorm” wasn’t snowing at all — someone, or something, had enchanted billions of snowflakes with unimaginable magic that allowed those ice crystals to dance endlessly without ever landing.

Strangely, she could still hear those voices whispering in the air, even though the whistling of the wind became almost terrifying now. She half felt that they were trying to tell her something, but once she focused on those voices, they quickly became inappreciable.

“Elsa!” Olaf’s voice snapped Elsa out of her thoughts. Apparently, the snowman was the only one who wasn’t troubled by the snowstorm at all. In fact, he was so cheerful at the sight of the snowstorm that Kristoff had to put him on Sven’s back, or he might dash into the snowstorm and lose the way out. To be honest, Elsa wasn’t even sure whether Olaf would worry about anything.

“I heard Fairyfloss is calling us, do you hear it? Or I’m just having a hallucination.” The snowman’s cheerful voice continued.

“Fairyfloss?” Elsa blinked in confusion.

“The snowstorm,” Kristoff wiped his face again, trying to get rid of all the snow on his face. “He called it Fairyfloss all the way. I have no idea what it means.”

“Wait, you mean you can hear the voices in the air, Olaf?” Elsa blurted out, but felt much relieved that it wasn’t her imagination after all.

“Wait, what?” Anna asked confusedly. “What’s voice?”

“The voices in the wind. can’t you hear it? like someone is whispering into your ear.” Elsa turned to look at Anna, but the latter shook her head quickly and turned to look at Kristoff.

“No,” Kristoff also shook his head, bewildered. “I didn’t hear any voice, besides the wind.”

“Then, it must be some magical voices only I and Elsa could hear. It explains why the wind is always trying to tickle me.” shaking off the loose snow on him, Olaf concluded. “That’s reassuring.”

“No, there must be something in the wind.” again Elsa looked at the snowstorm. And as those voices continued mumbling, a thought suddenly came cross Elsa’s mind. She knew that using ice magic was like creating a small piece of herself—every time she wanted to create something with her magic, she would extract a part of her thoughts, emotions, even memories, from her mind and cast it into reality, and sometimes, if she pulled enough thoughts and emotions out of her head, she could even create something sentient, such as Olaf and Marshmallow, the snow giant who lived and guarded her ice palace. And if this was true, she wondered what kind of being was born when someone, or something, created this magical snowstorm. Involuntarily, she closed her eyes and reached her hand out, trying to feel the magic that flowed in the air.

Suddenly, the howling wind seemed to calm down. She felt that streams of air were gently swept around her, and snowflakes brushed against her skin mischievously. For the first time, she clearly heard those voices, not just one voice, but thousands, even millions, of voices, as if she was surrounded by a large group of people, and everyone was trying to speak with her at the same time. Their language was unknown to Elsa, but their tones were warm and friendly, even overwhelming, as if they were greeting a long lost friend.

As soon as Elsa opened her eyes in confusion, the whispers were gone; the wind was again howling in the air, blowing fiercely against her face.

“It feels strange.” said Elsa, hesitantly. “I don’t know why, but it feels very—familiar, I—think the snowstorm has some connection with my magic.”

“You mean you can do this?” with a quick glance at the snowstorm, Kristoff turned to her with awe.

“Not like this.” still in confusion, Elsa shook her head. “Conjuring a snowstorm that blocks a mountain pass for a week, maybe. But this, whoever did this was far more powerful and skillful than me.”

“Could be anyone still live inside this snowstorm?” looking up at the raging snowstorm, Anna asked worriedly.

“It would be a miracle if someone manages to survive in—this thing for a day.” grunted Kristoff, as he tried to wrap his cloak tighter. “To be honest, I don’t think it’s a good idea to venture…”

“No, it is just a barrier.” Elsa interrupted the mountain boy without thinking and quickly waved her hand to dismiss his suggestion. “Someone wanted to block something out of Nordland. It would be safe once we are inside.” Although her tone was firm, leaving no room for discussion, she had no idea where her confidence came from. It seemed that something was awakened by the momentary connection between her and the snowstorm, and now it became an inexplicably anxiety urged her to continue the journey.

Much to her relief, Kristoff only gave her a strange look but didn’t argue further—otherwise she would have trouble to explain everything. After a short pause, the mountain boy made his decision. He handed the reins of two reindeers out to Anna and said. “OK, then, you two can go find a shelter somewhere, and I will walk around to see if I can find a safe pass.”

“Wait, Kristoff.” Elsa raised a hand and stopped the mountain boy. “I think I can stop it, temporarily.”

Without further explanations, she took a step forward and looked up at the white chaos before her. At the same time, millions of snowflakes still shifted elusively in the fierce wind, showing no intention of yielding back. For a short moment, she hesitated. It was the first time she faced something so colossal and powerful. She had known other kinds of magic before — she had seen the evasive divinations of trolls and had heard the fascinating stories of her cousin’s magical hair, but nothing was as destructive as her ice magic. For a very long time, she learnt to be careful with her power and already got used to be the most dangerous one among others. But now, before the mountain of dancing snowflakes, she felt like nothing more than a small puddle, rippling in the roaring of a stormy ocean.

Then, a warm hand held hers. As she looked back, her eyes met Anna’s teal eyes. Without a word, the redhead stepped forward, standing side by side with her. Her hand was firm and tight, without shudder or flinch.

Nodding firmly, Elsa raised her right hand and clenched her fist.

The next moment, the world went silent. The howling wind suddenly stopped, and the deadly white chaos seemed to be frozen in the air. Then, as if someone suddenly placed a long-inverted snow globe back in its position, millions of snowflakes began to fall quietly.

“Ah, it’s snowing!” bouncing forward, Olaf burst into a series of giggles, like a kid who saw snow for the first time.

“Wait, Olaf!” Anna released Elsa’s hand and ran forward, trying to catch up the cheerful snowman. 

“We must hurry.” clenching her fist tighter, Elsa glanced at Kristoff, who still seemed to be shocked by the spectacle before his eyes, and warned. “I can’t hold it back forever.”


	7. Nordland

The snow fell thickly and steadily, and the ground had soon vanished under a white blanket. Without the whistling wind, the world suddenly became strangely quiet, as if the silently falling snow muffled all the sound. However, the snow didn’t last long, in less than half hour, the view became much clearer. The world around them looked like an unfinished painting with perfectly white blanks, waiting some artists to fill. The clouds were still brooding over their head, as if the snowstorm would come again soon.

As they continued deeper into that storm-ravaged land, the landscape became even bleaker. Grasses and short bushes were completely absent, only withered dead trees scattered here and there reminded them that there was once life in this land. Sometimes, they would stop at a weathered rock, looking at the marks left by the formidable power of the snowstorm in awe.

Elsa followed others absently along the trip. Though she tried to keep a calm exterior, her mind was struggling to rein in the magic that created the snowstorm. She had made a huge progress in controlling the ice and snow magic since her coronation day. Nowadays, she could dispel her ice-creations with a single mind, or stopped a natural blizzard in a minute, but the one who created the snowstorm was more powerful than she thought, and the only thing she could do was locking it in her mind temporarily.

However, although the snowstorm greeted her with friendliness, it now became an untamed beast, rampaging inside her head. The turbulent feelings became louder and louder, overwhelming her with thoughts of releasing her grip. Eventually, she had to adapt her old way of dealing with her magic, ignoring the urge and trying to divert her attention. But when she managed to focus on other people, she found that they seemed to lose their way, and Kristoff was helping Olaf to climb a huge rock.

“Remind me, why must I do this?” standing on the top of a huge rock, Olaf lowered his head and asked.

“Because you are the invincible snowman!” Kristoff cheered and pointed at another even higher rock. “Now, climb up that rock and tell me what do you see.”

“I still think it’s not a good idea to let Olaf to this.” Anna complained.

“It’s better than letting any of us get there.” Kristoff pointed at the rock which Olaf was climbing. It was almost as high as the wall of the Arendellian castle, rising above other rocks like a watchtower. “Besides, I mean it.” Kristoff added. “He is a magical snowman, nothing could harm him.”

But Elsa agreed with Anna. She didn’t feel comfortable about the idea of letting Olaf wandering around some place dangerous, even though she knew that Olaf won’t be injured even if he fell from the rock.

“Hey,” yelled Olaf, who finally climbed the rock while they were arguing. The magical snowman waved his branch hands victoriously. “You all look so tiny from up here.”

“OK,” Kristoff gave him a thumbs up and instructed. “Now, look around, see if there is anything other than snow and rocks.”

“Snow, Snow, Snow and rock.” the snowman babbled, as he turned his head around. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed his hand in a direction. “Hey! I see a forest over there!”

“Great!” Kristoff raised his voice. “Is there anything else? How far from here?”

“A big forest. I think it’s out of the snowstorm. I don’t see snow there.” Olaf paused for a short moment. “Less than a mile, I guess.”

“Finally! Let’s get out this damn place!” Kristoff took a few steps forward and opened his arms. “Now, get down here, I will catch you!”

“No!” before Olaf could do anything, both girls yelled out simultaneously. Anna pulled Kristoff away angrily and warned Olaf. “Don’t jump, Olaf! It’s dangerous.”

“Just stay there for a little longer, I will create something to let you slide down.” Elsa said and instinctively raised her hand to create an ice slope in front of the rock. However, she forgot that she was trying to restrain the snowstorm at the same time. And before she could realize, the magic ran wild. A huge ice wall uncontrollably raised from the ground, then exploded into numerous small ice crystals. Suddenly, a gust of wind arose, blowing the ice crystals into the sky.

“No, no, no,” Elsa clenched her fist again, but felt nothing in her head anymore.

“What just happened?” asked Anna in confusion.

“Hey, look!” Olaf, who was still on the top the rock, yelled and gestured in the direction from which they had come.

Turning around, Elsa saw a wall of white appear in the distance. It towered over the rocks and hills, like a huge wave coming toward their direction. Then, she realized that it wasn’t a wall. The snowstorm was back.

“Oh, boy.” Kristoff took a few steps back involuntarily and turned his head to yell at the snowman. “Olaf, get down now! We must hurry!”

This time, Olaf jumped from the rock without hesitation. Although Kristoff caught him in the midair, the inertia pulled both of them down toward the ground. Luckily, the snow on the ground was thick enough to cushion them from the collision. And before Elsa could say anything, both the snowman and the mountain boy had gotten up from the ground.

“Quick, toward that direction.” knowing it wasn’t a good time to argue, Elsa quickly commanded. But the wall of snow was still approaching, and Elsa knew, they might only have five or ten minutes left. Taking a deep breath, she turned around to face the coming snowstorm and added. “I will buy you some time.”

“Sven!” Anna called out loud and exchanged a look with Kristoff.

“Time to get fast!” picking Olaf in his left arm, Kristoff reined in the other reindeer with his right hand and quickly mounted the back of the reindeer with Olaf.

Meanwhile, as Sven came close and knelt before the royal sisters, Anna suddenly bent down and lifted Elsa up in her arms.

“ANNA! Let me down! What are you doing!” struggling and surprised, Elsa shouted, but in the next moment, she was put on Sven’s back.

“I can’t ride a reindeer!” again she protested.

“Luckily, I can.” after throwing Elsa on Sven’s back, Anna also quickly mounted on Sven and gave him a pat to let her four-legged friend stand up. Then, the redhead took a glance at Elsa, seemed to make sure she was alright, and squeezed the reindeer with her legs. “Now, hold on tight!”

Elsa hadn’t ridden a reindeer before. She learnt to ride a horse after she became the queen, and she was good at it. So, when she saw Anna trying to ride Sven back in Arendelle, she naturally thought it would be the same as riding a horse. But she was wrong. When the reindeer began to run, Elsa felt like she was riding on a rabbit and her heart was going to jump out of her chest.

She hugged Anna’s waist tightly, afraid to fall off Sven. And the redhead seemed to feel Elsa’s worries and took one hand off Sven’s rein and touched Elsa’s hands on her waist. But she didn’t turn her head back, and Elsa guessed that it required her full attention to keep both of them on the reindeer’s back.

The scenery flew by as the reindeers run through the snow. But the wind from behind became more and more fierce, with more and more snow mixed in. After a few turns among the gigantic rocks, they rushed into a narrow hill pass. And down below, Elsa could see a forest, gray and bare, stretching infinitely toward north.

“Almost there!” gritting her teeth, Anna squeezed Sven with her legs again. But the reindeer didn’t go faster. Elsa knew that reindeers weren’t as strong as horses, and Sven seemed to already reach his limit. Looking back, she saw the white chaos was approaching like a great breaker which was overtaking them.

She tried to use her power to delay the white surge, but the bumps made it difficult for her to concentrate. The only thing she could do was holding Anna tightly, hoping the impact won’t tear them apart.

In a blink of an eye, they were engulfed in white. The snowflakes and ice crystals surged forward, obscuring everything around them, as if they suddenly dropped into a thick fog. The wind was whistling in her ears and slashing her cheeks like the tip of a knife. But it only lasted for a short moment. Suddenly, her sight became clear again, and they were already in the woods.

Sven ran a little way further, but obviously slowed down, until Anna gently reined him in. Although the wind was still quite fierce, the snowstorm seemed to give up on chasing them. As they turned around, they saw the white chaos was still raging on the edge of the forest, but didn’t advance any further, as if it hit an invisible barrier.

* * *

**_King Agnarr’s diary_ **

**_24th September, 1808_ **

_Finally, Nordland!_

_The sight is very beautiful. Golden forest and lovely meadow. Already regretted that I didn’t bring the painting tools._

_We also met_ _Northuldra people today and_ _settled our camp near theirs._ _Father had a meeting with the advisors this afternoon. He let me join them, but no talking was allowed. Diplomatic stuffs, the whole thing was quite boring._

_Sir Robert said that there was a forest fire in Nordland this summer. Several Northuldran people died and lots of their reindeers ran away. They probably will have a very difficult time in the coming winter. I feel sorry for them. Sir Robert also suggested father that we could help them, offering food and supplies, and exchanged for their assistance. It would be very helpful if Northuldran people could assist us in the exploration. But Sir Anderson and Captain Martin aren’t sure about it._

_I also saw Iduna today in their reindeer pasture, and she looked like a knight from those storybooks. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to talk with her, maybe tomorrow._

Put down the dairy, Anna glanced at the blonde, who had fallen into a deep sleep on the pelt. In the soft light of the lantern, Elsa was peaceful and relaxed, like a graceful cat curling on a pillow. It must be exhausting to suppress a fierce storm with your mind, Anna thought. After they got out of the snowstorm, her dear sister looked worn out. However, at that time, Elsa still wanted to travel a bit further to north before the sun started to go down. Unfortunately, or fortunately, both poor reindeers were exhausted after the short sprint, and everyone was still in shock, unsure of what to do. So, they encamped not far from a creak they found.

Carefully pulling the blanket to cover Elsa, Anna exited the tent on tiptoe.

Outside the tent, the sun had set, but the sky was still bright. Anna saw that Kristoff was piling the wood onto the campfire, and the snow giant created by Elsa was dutifully patrolling in the bare woods. That snow giant was much like Marshmallow— the terrifying-looking snow monster with an amiable heart that Elsa created to guard her ice palace—muscular, taciturn, but slightly smaller in size. During the trip, Elsa would create one of those snow giants when they camped and dispel it when they left. It was very useful as a sentinel, and sometimes, Anna couldn’t help to wonder whether it was the same one all along or Elsa was just fond of that chubby look.

Looking around, the redhead asked. “Where’s Olaf?”

“At the creek, don’t worry, he was with Sven…” Kristoff paused for a short moment and added. “the other one.”

Anna tittered at Kristoff’s hesitation. She knew that he was still struggling with naming the other reindeer. Last time she checked, he had narrowed down to only two choices, “Sten” or “Knud”, but the competition was very tight.

“How is Elsa?” picking up the pot near the campfire, Kristoff asked.

“Slept. I guess she was exhausted.” Anna answered quietly. However, at thought of what had happened during the day, she flushed with excitement. The redhead puffed out his chest with arms akimbo, striding up and down, and boasted with an appearance of some little pride.

“See! I told you, I can help.”

“Yeah.” the mountain boy answered perfunctorily and lifted the saucepan between two pieces of heat-insulated hard leather. “Want some?”

Looking at the suspicious stew, Anna shocked her head alarmingly.

“Your loss.” Kristoff put the saucepan in front of himself and stirred the stew with the spoon. “Do you think Elsa a bit strange today?”

“What do you mean?” asked Anna.

“Can’t tell. I just think she is a bit off today, and she seems quite anxious to pass through the snowstorm.” said Kristoff, while tasting the stew from the saucepan. “It wasn’t like her”

Anna had to admit that the mountain boy had a point there. The Elsa she knew was cautious and well-organized, and normally she won’t act without certainty. But today Elsa seemed to be single-minded in her venture and wanted to continue traveling toward the north even when she was exhausted, as if she was driven by an important mission and couldn’t offer to delay even a moment.

“Maybe she just wanted to find a quick way to get through the storm.” Anna shook her head, trying to drive away those thoughts and be positive. “Anyway, we made it. And we are in Nordland now, everything will be fine!”

“That’s what worries me.” sighed Kristoff. The mountain boy patted the fallen trunk of a tree which he used as a bench, suggesting the redhead join him. “We’d better not stay here too long. There is something wrong with this forest.”

Anna took his suggestion and sat beside him on the trunk. “What do you mean?”

Kristoff picked up a branch from the small firewood pile at his feet and handed it to Anna. “Here, check this out.”

It was a withered branch, shriveled and brittle, which could be easily snapped in Anna’s hands, but nothing in particular. The redhead studied the branch for a while and turned to look at Kristoff in confusion.

“I picked those branches from the trees over there.” Kristoff pointed at a direction where several short trees stood. “It already died for one or two years, maybe. And all other trees are the same.” he paused to take a spoonful of the stew from the smoked saucepan. “This whole forest is dead. I never see anything like this before.”

As Anna looked around, she realized what did Kristoff mean. It was early April. Although the weather was still chilly, back in Arendelle, the trees were sprouting their new leaves. But she didn’t see any signs of green in this forest. Everything was grey or brown. Those bare branches were stretching toward the dusk sky like innumerable bony hands trying to grab anything in their reach. On the ground, there wasn’t any withered leaves, only dry earth, which seemingly confirmed Kristoff’s guess — the trees were bare for a very long time. And what made her the most uncomfortable was the quiet in the woods. Besides the crackle of the campfire, the heavy footsteps of the snow sentinel and the faint wind-whistling in the distance, she could hear anything, no animal, no bird, no insect, as if all the living beings had abandoned this land.

Anna uneasily shifted herself closer to Kristoff and asked. “Do you think it’s because of those spirits Grand Pabbie talked about?”

“I don’t know.” Kristoff took another spoonful of his stew. “But if it’s true. I hope we won’t meet them.”

Anna looked around again and tried to reassure her friend and herself. “Don’t worry, Elsa will keep us safe, and she will find out what had happened. she always does”

“Really?” asked Kristoff.

“Yes. I have faith on her.”


	8. A Wicked Welcome

_She saw a boy and a girl riding a chestnut horse in the midst of a snow-covered plain. They were around fourteen and made an interesting couple. The boy, who wore a heavy dark-green coat with golden embroideries, had an aristocratic look: neatly trimmed fair hair, slim figure, and white, almost pale, skin. On the other hand, the girl was more vigorous, even wild. Her rosy face was spotted with light freckles, and her brunette hair was long and wavy. Her garment was made of yellowish fur hide, thick and solid, and decorated with exquisite and colourful stripes._

_She followed those two children closely, like a disembodied ghost, quiet and weightless._

_“Stop, Vindr is tired. We need rest.” she heard the girl saying._

_“We can’t, they will catch up soon.” said the body._

_As the girl looked back, she followed. There were several faint figures riding toward them in the distance. She seemed to hear someone yelling, but couldn’t hear them clearly._

_“Stop.” again said the girl, “You need rest, I will stop them.”_

_So the boy sighed and reined in his horse. Quickly, the girl took out something swathed in fabric from her coat and carefully unwrapped the cover. Inside, she saw a crystal, or a_ _flawless ice. Taking a deep breath, the girl lifted up the crystal and closed her eyes. Then, the crystal started to shine with bright blue light._

 _Suddenly a fierce gale sprang up and the whirling snow swept over the plain, driving those distant figures away from their original direction. As the crystal continued to emit the blue light, the drapes of snowflakes became denser and denser, until_ _everything merged into a vast expanse of whiteness._

 _Finally, the blue light faded away, and the girl opened her eyes, staring at the whiteness before her_ _blankly._

_“We will come back one day, I promise you.” the boy said softly._

_But the girl didn’t say anything. With tears in her eyes, she put down the dimmed crystal and carefully wrapped it again quietly._

_It was then she finally recognized the fabric in the girl’s hands._

_It was her mother’s shawl._

* * *

She opened her eyes.

For a moment, upon waking, she had no idea who, or where, she was. The liberating feeling that brought from her dream still lingered. She was no one, or nothing. She didn’t have a form, nor need one, but simply existed in this world. Then, she found her face pressed against the furry pelt, and beneath the pelt was the hard ground. So she had an idea of the body, and she remembered that she was Elsa, the Queen of Arendelle, and she was in Nordland.

It was morning, and she could saw a ray of pale light leaking through the gap of the tent. As Elsa turned over on the pelt, she immediately amused by what she saw. On the other side of the tent, Anna was lying on another pelt, wrapping herself in the heavy cloak, giving out muted snores in her sleep, and her hair looked like some overgrown grass, extending toward all directions, crossing each other, forming a spectacular mess. Although Elsa had seen this kind of situation many times, Anna always seemed to have a way to surprise her.

It was some kind of curse to her, Anna had once complained — no matter how tidy her hair was when she went to sleep, she would wake up like this magically. However, after several nights of suffering with Anna in the same bed, Elsa attributed it to Anna’s inexhaustible energy — the redhead just refused to quiet down even in her sleep.

Elsa sat up on the pelt and did a quick check on her own hair. Luckily, it was not even close to Anna’s mess. She fumbled the comb from her satchel and carefully brushed out her hair with Anna’s regular breaths.

As the comb gently went through her hair, the remnants of the previous dream was dispelled and her head became clear again. However, when she almost finished brushing, Elsa suddenly had an off feeling. It became strangely quiet in the tent, which made her a little uneasy. As she looked around, she noticed that one of Anna’s eyelids twitched a bit. Then, she realized that the redhead had awakened and was peeping on her. As she stretched out her hand to check the redhead, Anna flinched with a chortle.

“How do you know?” the redhead rubbed her eyes and mumbled in a sleepy tone.

But Elsa didn’t answer her question. “Time to get up, sleepyhead.” she put on a blue short coat and tied her hair into a loose ponytail. “We aren’t here for camping; we still need head towards the north.”

The redhead relied her with an unpleasant grumble and begged. “Ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes.” sighed Elsa, as she stood up and left the tent. “and don’t forget your hair.” she added.

And the redhead only replied with another grumble.

Outside the tent, the campfire had long burnt out, leaving only a pile of grey-white ashes and some charcoals in the fire pit. Kristoff’s tent was still closed, and two reindeers were sleeping side by side near his tent. The snow giant she created was still patrolling around the camp dutifully. And on its shoulder, there was Olaf, who held a stick in his hand proudly, as if he was a knight on the horse back.

“Olaf.” Elsa called out.

“Elsa!” seeing the blondie was awake, the snowman quickly dropped his stick and slid down from the snow giant, bouncing across the camp. “Good morning and how was your night?”

Elsa bent over to greet the short snowman with a light hug. “Great, and you?”

“Ah, the forest was very quiet at night. Kinda boring.” Olaf rambled on. “I wish that you could make Marshmallow the Second a bit more talkative.”

“Oh, sorry.” holding Olaf’s hand, Elsa relied him with a smile. “It’s hard to create some as unique as you.”

“Wow, that actually makes me feel much better.” the snowman beamed brightly.

“Anyway,” looking again at Kristoff’s tent, Elsa made a rough estimation of the free time she could have before they began to pack everything up and asked. “I want to go to the creek. Care to join?”

“Sure! This way, I found a short cut!” taking Elsa’s hand, the snowman bounced toward the other direction.

Along the way, Olaf continued rambling on about the little discoveries he made during the night, but Elsa was absent-minded. A thin morning mist lingered in the woods, creating a mysterious, even sinister, atmosphere. All trees she saw were bare of leaves, even withered, as if the land itself had died long time ago. And as she looked up into the sky, she could see those bony branches stretching infinitely upwards until they disappeared into a milky whiteness. Occasionally, the sunshine could penetrate through the ever-changing mist, casting feeble rays of pale light on the ground, but soon fade away as the mist continued shifting.

Generally, she would feel more free in a quiet environment, but this gloomy forest somehow made her miss the noisy morning of Arendelle — at least, she could greet with her people, hear their complaints and enjoy the lively atmosphere when she was visiting the town. In fact, she would describe this forest as ‘dead’ rather than ‘quiet’, since she could barely hear any sound besides Olaf’s rambling. As her mind start to wander, she again thought about the strange dream she had just before she woke up. It was vividly branded in her mind, almost like a memory that never happened. The boy in her dream did look like one of her father’s portraits, painted when he was fifteen, and she wondered why she would have such strange thoughts that her parents might be responsible for the magical snowstorm.

“…… and we are here.”

Eventually, Olaf’s voice recalled her to herself, and she found herself standing by a stream. It was shallow and quiet, but the water was still crystal clean.

“Thank you, Olaf, you are very helpful.” Elsa smiled and carefully knelt down to wash her hands. Although she could never tell the difference between ‘cool’ and ‘chilly’, the temperature of the water was refreshing for her, so she bent down and washed her face. Then, she heard Olaf shouting out excitedly.

“Look, what’s that?”

As she looked up, she saw something standing behind a bare shrub across the stream. It was around fifty feet away from them, hiding in the shadows, so she could get a clear look, but it was big, even larger than a middle-sized horse. Meanwhile, she sensed a faint smell in the air, like rotten meat, unpleasant even in the slightest.

“Olaf.” she called out alertly.

“Let me get a closer look.” the curious snowman yelled and quickly waded across the stream.

Sighed inwardly, Elsa followed the snowman and stepped into the water. And the moment her shoes touched the water, a layer of ice strong enough to hold her weight was formed beneath her shoes. She continued walking forwards without hesitation, trying to catch up the snowman ahead. In the meantime, the thing already walked around the shrub and stepped into the light.

“It’s an elk!” yelled Olaf in excitement.

However, Elsa stopped in fear. No, it wasn’t an elk, but something that could only exist in a nightmare.

It was difficult to put the thing she saw into words. Twigs, bones, and mosses, tangled with vines and thorns, were pieced together, forming a huge, elk-like shape. Its head was a half-broken skull of a large deer or a horse, and its antlers were withered branches. However, this wasn’t an occult sculpture. In its empty eye sockets, there were points of red flames, flickering like ghost lights. And although it looked shaky and might fall apart at any time, this huge, wicked “elk” was stepping towards them in an agile but unnatural way.

“Elsa?” Olaf took a step back and his voice was shaky.

“I’m here.” Elsa lowed her voice, trying to not disturb the nightmarish thing before their eyes. “Come behind me, slowly.”

However, at that moment, the elk-like thing lowed its wooden antler and charged. And almost at the same time, with a wave of Elsa’s hand, a row of icicles burst out from the ground, blocking the trail before them. However, the ice spikes were shorter than what Elsa expected, and with a jump, the thing had easily crossed the barrier. Elsa frowned a bit but didn’t stop her magic. Before the nightmarish horror could land, another row of icicles, longer and sharper, burst out, thrusting into its loose body easily.

Normally, Elsa would use her power more carefully, but facing something like this, she won’t mind to be as lethal as she could. And just as she expected, the thing didn’t die, or stopped moving, but still struggled vigorously, trying to free itself from the ice spikes.

“Stay away from it.” Elsa quickly caught at Olaf’s branch hand and pulled him behind herself.

“What is it?” Olaf asked with a shaky voice. It seemed that he was still in shock or confusion, unsure of what to do.

“I don’t know.” Elsa shook her head and looked at the horror on icicles alertly. Then, she raised her hands again, creating more icicles to encase the nightmarish thing completely. This was the only way she could think of to deal with this abomination so far. However, for Elsa, there were still plenty of other things that needed to be worried about. The mysterious mist and those sinister witheredness might be attributed to some mind tricks, but the wicked thing before their eyes had proved that there was something terribly wrong with this land. As she opened her mouth, trying to comfort the snowman, she heard a loud roar coming from the direction from which they came.

“The camp!” All of sudden, Elsa was overcome with panic. “Anna and Kristoff are in danger!”

As they raced through the dead forest, more roars echoed through the air. At this point, Elsa had recognized those simple but fierce voices. It was her snow giant, who seemed to fight with something else. Hundreds of terrible thoughts flashed through her mind, but she tried to ignore them and channel more and more ice power into her hands. Finally, after rounding a large fallen tree, she saw the striking red hair.

The rotten odor she had smelled from the elk-like thing was excessively pungent here. And in just a glance, Elsa could tell that they had a much bigger problem. The sight before her eyes was eldritch and terrifying, to say the least. The camp was attacked by nearly a dozen wood-bone monsters. They were similar to the “elk” she encountered, made of bones and branches, but took different forms — wolves, lynxes, even a bear. All of them were withered and skinny, with flickering red eyes, like something came out of the worst nightmare. 

Much to Elsa’s relief, both Anna and Kristoff were fine. The redhead had drawn the short sword she got from the royal guard captain, and Kristoff also held a long staff in his hands for defense. They stood back to back on their guard, trying to fight off the approaching horrors. But thanks to the snow giant, most of those wicked horrors were blocked by his tremendous strength and bulky body, only a few wolf-like things managed to bypass him and moved on to the other targets.

“Look out!” Elsa warned loudly, as she dashed forward and released her magic. In a sudden, two torrents of ice burst through the woods, sweeping three wolf horrors away from the redhead and mountain boy.

“Behind you!” As Anna turned to Elsa’s direction, she yelled and rushed towards the blondie. With a rather agile swing, she stuck another wolf horror that was sneaking upon Elsa to the ground. Though she hit the monster right on its skull, her strength wasn’t enough to deliver a severe cut, nor that mass of bones and branches would stop by a sword. The wicked horror sprang again upon them. But Elsa, who had recollected herself from the initial surprise, quickly raised an ice barrier to separate them from the monster. However, like the first time she tried to stop that ‘elk’, the ice barrier again wasn’t as high as she expected, and the wolf horror stuck upon the upper end of the ice barrier, trying to climb over. But its skull was immediately punctured by Anna’s sword. And Elsa, after a short moment of puzzlement, quickly encased the transfixed yet still struggling horror with more ice.

In the meantime, on the other side of the camp, the snow giant seized a small horror nearby and threw it to the huge wooden bear who was swinging its bony claw at him. Two horrors crashed together heavily and toppled to the ground. Their branch-woven bodies became entangled, forming an even more eldritch and larger mess, but still trying to stand up and attack again. Meanwhile, another lynx horror immediately sprang upon the snow giant’s back. Luckily, Kristoff caught up and delivered a heavy blow to the skull of the lynx horror with his staff, sweeping it down to the ground. However, the wicked thing rolled over and turned to attack him instead.

“They can’t be killed.” Elsa warned. “Try to pin them down.”

“That’s easier said than done.” the mountain boy complained, as he thrust his staff forward to keep the wicked thing away from him. “We need another solution.”

Elsa shot a torrent of ice to freeze the lynx horror before Kristoff and commanded. “Olaf! lead Anna and Kristoff toward the creek! Let me and the snow giant deal with them.”

“NO WAY!” Anna, who had finally pulled out the sword in the ice barrier, objected loudly. “I won’t leave you here!”

“ANNA!”

**_DOOM, BOOM, DOOM, DOOM,_ **

Suddenly, a roll of drums began to echo in the woods. It repeated in a strange rhythm, steady and mysterious, like something from an occult ritual. And for a moment, Elsa found herself slowly slipping into a trance under the influence of those repeating drums. She shook her head, trying to focus on the dangers before her, but as the drums continued, it became harder and harder. All her thoughts quickly faded away, and she felt weightless, as if she would drift with the wind at any moment. And just before she got lost into the strange rhythm, the drums stopped.

Suddenly, the spell that drums put on her was gone, and she still stood where she was. She felt a little dazed but still managed to focus on the situation at hand. Much to her surprise, most of wooden monsters, those who weren’t frozen in the ice, had fled, and the rest fell apart on the ground, just a mass of branches and bones.

However, they were still not alone. A group of people now stood not far from their camp, in the woods, looking at them in confusion and surprise.


	9. Northuldran

When Anna first heard the snow giant roaring, she had just arranged her hair and got out of the tent. And she saw a wolf-like thing, made of twisted branches and broken bones, dashed out of the woods and pounced on the snow giant. Then, more eyes, wavering like ghostly lanterns, appeared in the shadow.

She half-thought that she was still in a nightmare and couldn’t wake up. To be honest, when she tried to recall everything later that day, she found that her memory was like a series of fragmentary scenes, jumping from one to another, without any continuity. She remembered rummaging in the luggage for her sword, meeting up with Kristoff and cutting loose two reindeers with her sword — it seemed to be a good idea at that time, considering they could hardly protect themselves. Fortunately, the snow giant created by Elsa was very helpful and single-handedly fought off many attacks by those wicked horrors. Then, Elsa showed up, and ice, like surging flood, swept the abominations before them away.

She didn’t know what she was doing, nor what she should do. She wished that she had paid more attention when Captain Johan taught her how to use a sword. But, to be honest, the whole thing was a spur of the moment idea, just for fulfilling her adventurous spirit, and she had never thought that she would actually use the sword one day. But when she saw a wolf-like thing sneaking behind Elsa’s back, she charged headlong without thinking. The collision between her sword and the broken skull somehow made her head clear. She knew that Elsa would always put others before herself, so whether Elsa agreed or not, it was her job to protect her dear sister away from the danger. This sense of responsibility encouraged her greatly, and by the time she thrust the second strike, she finally felt herself again.

Then, came the strange drums. All of a sudden, all those fierce horrors paused, then quickly fled into the forest, leaving Anna again at a loss. Although it seemed that they were out of danger, the bizarreness of the situation failed to put her at ease. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest as the drums continued echoed. She turned her head to check Elsa, but only found the blondie just looking blankly at the woods. Though Anna called her name in a low voice, trying to get her attention, the blondie didn’t answer or react to her words, as if she was completely bewitched by the strange drums.

“What has happened?” Olaf, who mimicked Kristoff holding a short stick in his hands, looked as perplexed as she felt. He lowered his voice and talked out of side of his mouth. “did we done something wrong?”

“I don’t know.” Anna reached out, caught the short snowman and pulled him between herself and Elsa, even though she wasn’t sure this would help. Then, Anna called out to Kristoff. And to her relief, the mountain boy was still on guard and quickly retreated to her side.

“There.” Kristoff whispered and pointed his staff at a tree in the distance.

Following his staff, Anna saw a man, warped in a brown cloak, standing by the tree, beating a frame drum with a stick. He was around their ages, almost as high as Kristoff, but slightly slenderer. And on his head, there was a cylindrical hat with several points on its top which almost looked like a strange crown made of cloth. Anna didn’t know how long that man had been there, but seeing that Anna and Kristoff had noticed him, the young man put down the drum, turned back and made some gestures.

As soon as the drums stopped, Elsa suddenly gave a little shiver. She looked around her confusedly, as if she just woke up from a trance and tried to catch up with everything she missed. Although Anna didn’t know what happened exactly, knowing Elsa was alright made she feel a little easier. However, she didn’t get a chance to speak with her sister, because more and more people now appeared from the woods. They were all men, old and young, more than a dozen, and more or less looked the same — with large cloaks and crown-like strange hats — but in their hands, there were sharp spears.

Unquestionably, they were the inhabitants of Nordland, the Northuldran people.

Suddenly, Anna felt her heart racing in her chest. Her hands were sweaty, even made it hard for her to hold her sword. Fortunately, those people stopped at the edge of the glade. It might because of the formidable snow giant, or because they had not decided what to do about trespassers, but they were alertly staring at their uninvited guests, with the spears tightly held in their hands.

The awkward standoff lasted for a while, and as Anna tried to figure out some words to break the ice, Elsa suddenly stepped forward. In her hurry, Anna reached out to hold Elsa’s hand worriedly, but the blondie patted her hand comfortingly and pulled away her hand. She gestured the snow giant to step down, and stood as upright as a flagpole. After a short pause, she spoke and her voice was calm and firm.

“Greetings, I’m Elsa Fairhair, and this is my sister Anna Fairhair, and our guard, Kristoff Bjorgman.” she paused for a moment, letting others process what they heard, then continued. “We are the envoys of Arendelle, and we mean no harm.”

What Elsa said surprised Anna a little, but she quickly recalled that Kai had indeed suggested them to hide their royal identities when they travelled alone, for the sake of their personal safety. Therefore, disguising as envoys seemed to be a great idea. Besides, the name “Fairhair” indeed suited Elsa quite well.

As Anna continued floundering among a jumble of thoughts, there came a stir in the Northuldrans.

“Arendelle! You mean you are from Arendelle?”

Anna heard an excited voice calling out from the crowd, then, after a short stir and buzz, a bulky man jostled his way through Northuldrans. He was a quite remarkable figure. With a height of over six feet and a robust build, he looked like a towering bear. Moreover, he had dark skin and brown eyes, a look which was very different from others around him. Anna had only seen a few of his kind back in Arendelle, who were merchants or sailors on foreign ships, and she knew that those people were from some far southern lands, which made her wonder why this man was here in Nordland. Judging from the white stubble on his chin, the wrinkles around his eyes and the curly grey hair peeping out from under his hat, Anna guessed that that sturdy man must be around sixty, but his movements were still quick and agile, hardly showing any signs of aging. Within a few steps, he was already in front of Elsa.

“How could you get through the snow curse, if you are from Arendelle?” the man looked down at the blondie in disbelief.

“I have the power to control snow and ice.” although dwarfed by the sturdy stranger, Elsa still stayed upright with her regal bearing and looked him in the eye. Meanwhile, the snow giant stepped forward menacingly, preparing to protect its creator, but quickly stopped when Elsa raised her right hand.

“And it will protect me from ANY danger and harm.” the blondie added.

A variety of expressions flashed across the black man’s face, first shock, disbelief, then confusion. Slowly, his lips curled up and turned into a wide grin.

“Oh, dear Lord, where is my manner?” slapping on his forehead, the sturdy black man burst into laughter. He took a step back, doffed his hat and bowed deeply. “I’m really sorry, we haven’t had guests in years. I’m Lieutenant Destin Mattias. I’m… well, I was the personal guard of King Agnarr.”

Anna covered her mouth in surprise. She knew that name well — her father had often mentioned his witty guard in his dairy, and Halima Haugen, the baker of Cassius Garten, also told the story of her brave fiancé when they received her in the castle. “You are Destin Mattias?” the redhead yelled in excitement. “Miss Haugen’s fiancé?”

For a moment, Destin was stunned. The old black man murmured that name and suddenly began to stammer. “I, she…, How……is she now?”

“She is fine, and she is waiting for you to come back.” Elsa gently shook his hand with an encouraging smile, then she let go of his hand, stepped aside to face the Northuldra in the distant and announced solemnly.

“We come in peace, and I was ordered to help members of the late King Runeard’s expedition team return their home and lift the curse upon Nordland!”

All of sudden, the strain of the previous moments was relaxed. The Northuldrans looked at one another in disbelief. Whispers quickly swept over the crowd and soon turned into a buzz of excitement.

But Destin was more exhilarated than others. The sturdy black man turned around and cheerfully opened his arms towards the Northuldrans. “Folks! Do you hear that? we are all going to get out of there!”

Destin’s catching enthusiasm dispelled the last glimmer of doubt. One after another, the Northuldrans laid down their spears and came closer to greet them with joyful smiles. And Olaf and the snow giant soon became the center of attention.

“So, is everything fine in Arendelle? How is King Agnarr? I bet he is a quite capable king now!” again asked Destin, who was still immersed in joy.

“He……” Elsa opened her mouth, but her voice was cracked.

“King Agnarr died in a shipwreck six years ago.” Anna went quickly up to Elsa and held the blondie’s hand reassuringly. “His daughter, Queen……Elena succeeded him to the throne three years ago.”

Destin opened his mouth, then closed it again without a word. Slowly, the sturdy black man shook his head, and his brown eyes filled with sadness. With a shivering hand, he took off his hat and put it over his heart. “I’m really sorry to hear that.” eventually, he sighed. “He was a good man.”

For a moment, both girls didn’t say anything but bowed their heads in remembrance.

Once those Northuldrans realized what could Elsa do, they became fairly generous and hospitable, maybe a bit too hospitable, in Elsa’s opinion. They not only invited both girls to their camp, but also agreed to resupply everything they need and help them gather all the Arendellians that were still alive and trapped in Nordland. Several people even volunteered for helping Kristoff track down two reindeers they set free earlier.

Whether they were sincere or not, Elsa didn’t know, but they looked like a group of people on a sinking ship, desperately clinging to anything that might free them from the snowstorm curse.

“How many of you remain?” Elsa asked Destin when they were heading towards the camp of the Northuldrans.

“Seven, or eight, a bunch of old codgers.” answered Destin, while scratching his chin reflectively. “I stopped counting long ago. Many people get married with Northuldrans and have children here. And now this place is like a second home to us. If you are looking for a full list, you should ask Robert, Lord Robert Andresen. He still keeps a record, and he is the only one who still believes that we will go back to Arendelle one day.”

“I’m sorry, I should be here earlier.” said Elsa, with a bit of guilt.

“Don’t be. It’s not that terrible.” Destin chuckled lightly. “After we were trapped here, we settled down with Northuldrans. Everything went quite well at the beginning. We grew crops, had very good harvests, and even managed to build several settlements with Northuldrans. To be honest, life was quite good back then.” again Destin scratched his chin. “But it’s pretty much downhill since nine or ten years ago, maybe even earlier than that. The trees were dying, land lost its fertility, and things became much tougher than before. People are losing their hope now. And that’s why we are searching the forest this morning, because yesterday scouts said that the snowstorm somehow stopped for a while—I guess that was when you came in. Lady Elsa.”

“Please, just call me Elsa.” Elsa smiled and corrected him.

“And what were those…things attacked us?” asked Anna, shivered.

“You mean **_Hisi_**?”

“What’s that _?_ ” asked Olaf, and both girls also looked at Destin in confusion.

“Yeah, that’s how Northuldrans call them. **_Hisi._** ” answered Destin. “They say if an evil soul lost its way to the afterlife, it will create a body like that and haunt the world of living. They say that those things are works of Hisi. They first appeared not long after the curse and caused some minor troubles to our settlements. But now, they are everywhere and become more and more dangerous.”

“There are more of those?” asked Elsa, while looking around alertly.

“Lots of, in the woods. But don’t worry, as long as you stay with us, you are safe.” Destin waved his hand to dispel her worries. “Some ancient Northuldran tales mentioned some methods to deal with them.”

“Oh, oh, I know!” Olaf cheered. “the magical drum.”

“Yes, that’s one of ways. There are talismans that can scare them away. And magical runes can hide our settlements from them. But the spirit drum is the best. Northuldrans say its sound could drive the evil soul away from the body it possessed. I can’t say I’m an expert. But it works, that’s enough for me.”

“I wish I could learn that kind of magic. It sounds so interesting.” said Olaf.

Destin’s words reminded Elsa of those strange hallucinations, when she first heard the drums. As she was about to ask for more details, she heard Kristoff calling out loudly. “Girls!”

Turning her head around, Elsa saw the mountain boy wave at them triumphantly. By his side, there were two reindeers and an old Northuldran.

“Sven!” screaming in joy, Olaf quickly ran towards the reindeers.

“Ande!” Destin also hurried up after seeing the old man, and gave him a strong grip. “What brings you old fogey to here?”

“I came across those two reindeers in the woods, and they told me that we have guests from Arendelle.” The old man replied him with a smile. He had a very striking face, framed with completely white hair and beard. One of his eyes seemed to be blind, with only a white turbid left in the eye socket; but the other one was clear and sharp, giving him a rather imposing presence.

“Ah,” with a grin, Destin turned towards the girls and said. “allow me to introduce, this is Lady Elsa Fairhair and Lady Anna Fairhair of Arendelle, and ……” he paused when his eyes fell upon Olaf.

“I’m Olaf!” the magical snowman cheered. “I’m a magical snowman who like hugs.”

“Thank you……snowman.” Destin patted the old man on the shoulder and continued. “This is Andaras, Birgget Andaras. He is the expert of Nordland, you can ask him anything about this land.”

“And he is awesome!” added Kristoff. “He single-handedly tracked down Sven and the other reindeer, and brought them to me!”

“I’m glad to meet you.” Andaras took off his hat, put it on his chest and inclined his head.

Both Elsa and Anna dipped into a courtesy. “We thank you for bring the reindeers back to us.” said Elsa.

The old man looked at both girls, and for a moment, his lips squirmed, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to start. Eventually, he glanced at Kristoff then turned his head back. “The boy told me that you grow up in Arendelle, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” though confused, Elsa nodded with a gentle smile.

“I would like to ask you about a person.” he continued with a more serious tone.

“Ande.” Destin muttered and gave the old man a disapproving look, seemingly wanting to stop him. But Andaras ignored him.

“Before the curse, there was a girl left Nordland with Prince Agnarr. Her name is Iduna.”

“Yes!” before Elsa could say anything, Anna already rushed to response with excitement. “Don’t worry, she was well looked after. Actually, she married King Agnarr and became Queen Iduna of Arendelle….”

To Elsa’s surprise, Andaras didn’t seem to be satisfied by the answer. The old man scowled at Anna’s words, opened his mouth about to say something, but eventually didn’t.

Noticing his vacillation, Anna paused and gave Elsa an inquiring look.

“Is there something wrong, Mr Andaras?” asked Elsa.

“I only wish she still remembers her debt.” Andaras answered coldly. “It was she brought the curse upon us.”


	10. Mother's Debt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made a few changes on the chapter 9 (actually, I did it last weekend).  
> Don't worry, just some descriptions of how they greet each other. no plot was changed. It just came to me that handshaking between different genders wasn't that common at that time when I was reading a book about 1800s.

Anna was in bad mood.

If Elsa didn’t hold her hand in time, she would probably shout at Andaras immediately when he said that her mother should be responsible for the curse upon Nordland. After that, Destin quickly dragged the old Northuldran away from them, but the redhead remained sulky and gloomy along the way.

She had asked Elsa in a whisper whether she believed Andaras’ words, and to her surprise, Elsa hesitated, which only made her even more annoyed. Elsa said that their mother was very young at that time, fourteen or fifteen-year-old at most, and she might easily do something wrong unknowingly. And Elsa also mentioned the letter from their mother, in which their mother said that she must go to a place called Ahtohallan and fix something.

Although Anna knew what Elsa said was true, it didn’t smooth her down. Moreover, she noticed that Elsa put on their mother’s shawl after Andaras left. Since Elsa couldn’t feel cold, this only meant that her sister was also upset about the whole thing, but she couldn’t believe that have doubts about their mother. Therefore, she didn’t tag along with Elsa and others after they arrived at the Northuldran camp but decided to wander around the camp to divert herself.

Unlike the withered woods where they camped last night, the surrounding of the Northuldran camp was green and lovely. About twenty strange huts, with a variety of sizes, scattered in a narrow strip of land between a singing river and the forest. They all had conical shapes, like large tents but made of timbers. Although it wasn’t a big community and most people were gathering in the largest hut to greet her sister, the camp was buzzing with activities. The time was near noon. Women were cooking over the campfires; several young men were busy fixing an old hut; and two herders were driving a small group of reindeers to the other side of the river. For a young princess who grew up in a castle, everything was interesting and refreshing.

On the other hand, her red hair and embroidered cloak also attracted a lot of attention from locals. A group of children followed her at a distance along the whole trip, curiously peeping behind huts or firewood piles. However, when Anna tried to greet them with smile, those children quickly ran away from her. Eventually, she squatted down and rummaged up a handful of chocolates from her satchel. And as she expected, the magic of chocolates worked great. The children quickly put down their guard and happily gathered around her. A little girl even timidly asked whether she could touch Anna’s red hair, and as a reward for fulfilling her wish, Anna received a present from the little girl. It was just a crudely carved toy, a deer or some four-feet animal, but it indeed made Anna feel much better.

In the end, Anna fished her satchel again for more snacks, but didn’t find any. She shrugged with an apologetic smile. And all children ran away with satisfied laughter.

“Hey.”

While Anna stared at children idly, a gently voice took her attention. As she turned her head, there was a Northuldran woman standing beside a wooden hut, holding a wooden mug in her hand, smiling at her. She was about sixty years old, with her brown hair drawn back in a bun at the back of her neck. Although wrinkles already lined around the corner of her eyes, there was a graceful charm lurking around her bright eyes and curved thin lips. However, the thing that really caught Anna’s attention was the fringed grey shawl on her shoulders — its design somehow reminded Anna of her mother’s shawl, though she could easily tell the differences.

“Are you Ms. Fairhair?” asked the woman.

“I’m Anna Fairhair.” Anna stood up and scratched her head. “But I think you are looking for my sister.” The news spread fast in this small community, and everyone was eager to see their savior. Anna had already been mistaken for her sister serval times along the way.

“Oh, that’s all right. I have heard from Destin, you are the younger one.” the woman smiled, showing no signs of surprise. “I’m Honeymaren Fjellner.” she raised the mug in her hand. “Do you want something to drink?”

Anna looked at the woman and the mug in her hand, then nodded timidly. Although she normally won’t take drinks from strangers, the smile of that woman was strangely compelling. Besides, she had only eaten a few pieces of chocolate since this morning.

Honeymaren quickly took another wooden mug from the rack beside the hut, filled it with some dark-brown liquid from a smoked kettle near the campfire and handed it over to Anna.

“It’s so nice of you.” Anna replied her with a bright smile.

She carefully sniffed at the mug. Smells of milk and herb filled her nostrils, nothing alarming, so she took a sip, and her eyes widened in wonder. “It’s like hot chocolate, but sourer, and not that thick, oh, sorry, sorry, I wasn’t complaining, I mean… I like it.” she babbled for a while and eventually took another sip, trying to hide her embarrassment behind the heavy mug.

“It’s cooked with berries and reindeer milk. I know you would like it.” Honeymare seemed to be proud of Anna’s comment, but her eyes were still gazing at the redhead fascinatedly.

“Sorry, is something on my face?” feeling a little embarrassed to be stared at by a stranger, Anna quickly wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, hoping she didn’t look too absurd.

“Oh, I’m sorry, you reminded me of someone I knew.” Honeymaren quickly looked away. “Do you want something to eat? It’s noon now.” she asked again.

Anna opened her satchel, rooting around for something to exchange with Honeymare, but found that the only valuable thing she could offer was a sliver broach. Although it was a beautiful birthday present sent by the duke of Slesvig, she doubted that it would mean anything to a Northuldran. “I only have this.” nevertheless, she brought out the broach and whispered.

Apparently, Honeymare was amused. She drew back the flap of the hut and said. “Oh, don’t worry. If your sister could bring us out of the snowstorm curse, I’m only too glad to help. Besides, I would like to ask you something, if you don’t mind. We can have a chat while we were eating.”

Anna’s stomach growled loudly.

The inside of Honeymare’s hut was somewhat small but cozy. Two wooden benches covered with reindeer pelts and a long table occupied most of the space, and the rest of the room was stuffed with dried herbs, wooden carvings, bundled furs, and other strange things. As Anna looked around curiously, she noticed that there was a frame drum hanging on the ceiling. Remembering how the young man used his drum to drive away those horrible _Hisi_ , Anna couldn’t help to take another glimpse at that strange drum. It was a quite big one with a brownish animal hide stretched over an oval thin frame. Judging from the worn marks on its surface, Anna thought that it must be a very old drum and apparently received great care. On its drumhead, there were many faded stick figures—some of them were just people, animals and trees, while others were symbols that were too strange to incomprehensible. For a second, they somehow reminded Anna of those rock paintings in the North Mountain that were said to be the symbols of gods in the ancient times.

“Here.” Honeymare put her mug on the table and patted on a bench, indicating Anna to sit down. Then, she took out a pack of jerky and put it on the table.

“It’s very nice of you.” Withdrawing her eyes from the drum, Anna put her mug on the table and took off her cloak. “And your place looks great!” she added and quickly sat down on the bench.

“Thank you.” Honeymare replied her with a smile and sat down on the other side of the table. “I’d like to ask you about a girl called Iduna.” she paused for a moment and added. “She left Nordland with Prince Agnarr thirty-four years ago.”

In a sudden, Anna felt her heart skip a beat, and she already regretted to get into this conversation. It just felt like that day she skipped Kai’s etiquette class but crashed right into her father when she was eight.

Maybe because she didn’t respond, Honeymare again added. “I was very close to her brother Sumar, and she was like a sister to me, so I just wanna know how is she doing.”

Anna blinked. She never knew that her mother had a brother, but then again, her mother never said anything about her own relatives. The redhead gave a light nod and answered reluctantly. “She married King Agnarr and became the Queen of Arendelle.”

“And how is she doing now?”

Anna took a sip from her mug, trying to hide her mood, and replied honestly. “Queen Iduna and King Agnarr died in a shipwreck, six years ago.”

For a moment, Honeymare paused, as if she needed to take some time to understand what Anna just said. Then, slowly, she lowered her head and stroked her shawl thoughtfully. “Oh,” in the end, she sighed softly. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“She had—a happy life” Anna stammered, trying to comfort the brunette woman. “—and a happy family and—and King Agnarr loved her very much—at least, I think so.”

Honeymare looked up at the drum hanging from the ceiling, then looked at Anna and gave her a slight smile. “She was a good girl.”

Somehow, Anna was relieved by Honeymare’s words. She looked at the sad woman and asked carefully. “What was she like, when she was in Nordland?”

“Lively, noisy, some might even call her ‘wild girl’.” Honeymare’s voice was low and soft, as if she was engulfed in memories. “But she always looked up to her brother Sumar, trying to prove herself. She always said that she wanted to be someone like Sumar and help her people.” Then, Honeymare sighed again. “especially after Sumar’s death.”

“What happened?” asked Anna.

“You might not know, but both her brother and her mother were Spirit Callers. they talked to the spirits, asking them to help our people. It’s a family business, and Sumar was very good at it, one of the best.” stroking her shawl slowly, Honeymare continued. “But that year, before Arendellians came, there was a forest fire, and Sumar died in the fire. Their mother hates the spirits and never talks to spirits ever since then. Because she thinks that spirits didn’t protect Sumar. But Iduna believed that Sumar sacrificed himself and saved lots of people. She wanted to follow his footsteps, becoming a spirit caller to help others. She even had a big fight with her mother about this. And her mother was so angry that she refused to teach her. But she ran from home and learnt everything from Ande.”

“Wait, what?” Anna raised her voice. “Ande, Andaras? You mean that man with only one eye?”

“Yes, I see you already met Ande.” Honeymare nodded in confusion.

“But—” again, Anna blurted out. “he said that it was Queen Iduna who brought the curse upon Nordland!”

“Ah,” Honeymare opened her mouth but paused for moment. Then, she nodded again. “many people think so.”

“The Queen Iduna I know would never do such thing!” Anna protested loudly.

But Honeymare seemed to lose herself in the memory and ignored her yelling. “When Arendellians came, they said that they wanted to find _Ahtohallan_. Some people joined them, along with Iduna. When they found it, they said that Iduna stole a very important thing from spirits. And the angry spirits cursed this land with their power.”

* * *

The meeting with Northuldrans went quite well. People packed in the large hut they used as a temporary village hall, discussing their ideas with great enthusiasm. Everyone was eager to met their new guests, and their eyes all sparked with hope. For the first time, Elsa felt that her magic didn’t have to be a frightening thing, but could also be a source of hope and inspiration. Those people trusted her, relied on her, not because she was the queen of Arendelle, but because of her magic.

She half wished that Anna could stay with her and saw those joyful smiles, but she knew that the redhead was angry with her for suspecting their mother of bringing the curse upon Nordland. To be honest, she was also upset about this idea. However, after what Andaras said about their mother, she couldn’t stop thinking about was the girl who conjured the snowstorm in her strange dream.

Luckily, Destin arranged most of things for her. The sturdy black man proved to be a good assistant and a man of action, reminding Elsa of those old-fashioned military officers she inherited from her father. He not only introduced her to other people, but also he helped her develop a thorough plan for her journey. According to his suggestions, they should travel together to Nyaren, the largest settlement in Nordland, and meanwhile, other Northuldrans could spread news to all scattered communities and also gather everyone in Nyaren, so that they could discuss their next step and how to break the curse.

Kristoff also expressed his full support for Destin’s idea, even though the mountain boy always preferred to travel on his own. It wasn’t a surprise. After all, they alone didn’t have enough supply for another long trip and travelling in a strange land without a guide would always be a bad idea, especially after what happened this morning. Therefore, everything was settled, and Northuldrans were quickly wound up for the journey to come.

“There is also another thing.” remembering what her mother said in the letter, Elsa said to Destin after the meeting. “Before we head towards Nyaren, I would like to visit a place called Ahtohallan, if that’s possible.”

“That won’t be a problem.” though seemingly surprised, the sturdy black man replied quickly. “But what do you have in mind? We almost tried everything there, nothing works.”

Destin’s question put her at a loss. She had seen this name in both her father’s dairy and her mother’s letter, but she hardly knew anything about it. In the dairy, her father said that it was a mysterious mountain in Northuldran myths and the final destination of her grandfather’s expedition. However, in her mother’s letter, her mother said that she and her father needed to go to that place and finish whatever they should do years ago. All the signs indicated that this place—the so-called “Ahtohallan”—was a very important piece in the puzzle of the past, and an indescribable desire was urging her to continue her mother’s journey, to find out the truth behind everything.

“Anyway, it’s half a day away from Nyaren.” while Elsa remained silent, Destin continued. “Actually, Nyaren was the base camp when we first got there.”

“Speaking of that,” Kristoff cut in curiously. “What were you doing back then? You must be kinda crazy to venture this north in winter!”

Elsa tugged the mountain boy lightly for his rudeness, but she had to admit that he spoke her mind.

“We were looking for those spirits in the Northuldran myth.” Destin shrugged. “King Runeard wanted to make an alliance with them.”

“Wait a moment, make an alliance with spirits?” exclaimed Kristoff. “How is that possible? Grand Pabbie said those spirits are very dangerous and unpredictable beings.”

“Oh, oh, that sounds a great legend story.” Olaf also yelled in excitement. “I definitely want to hear that.”

As Destin turned to her inquiringly, Elsa gave him a light nod. From what she read in her father’s diary, she already half-guessed that the expedition might have something to do with magic. But Destin’s words seemed to lift a corner of the veil, and, in a sudden, she felt that things began to piece themselves together.

“It’s a long story.” the sturdy black man sighed resignedly and made a gesture towards the door. “We’d better to talk it while checking the wagon for tomorrow’s trip.”

“Have you ever heard the story how King Aren create Arendelle?” when they all got out of the hut, Destin asked.

“You mean the legend that he stole the power of gods and carved the Arenfjord with his sword?” said Elsa. Normally, it was Anna who was more familiar with the details of those heroic legends, but comparing to a boy raised up by trolls and a three-years old snowman, she was confident in answering that question.

“Yes, that legend.” nodded Destin. “expect it wasn’t so much of a legend. Do you know that Northuldran also have a similar one about King Aren?”

"Oh, that's interesting. What did they say about this King?" Olaf blinked.

“They call him the great Aren. In their story, King Aren didn't steal the power from gods, but from spirits. He stored that power in a magical talisman and used it to create Arenfjord. After that, he went to Ahtohallan, returned the power to spirits and made a pact with them, so that the spirits would take care of the land he created. Also, it was he who taught Northuldran how to communicate with spirits, according to their stories.”

Elsa glanced at Destin in suspicion. There were countless stories and sagas about her ancestor, the first King Aren—from challenging a goddess to a hunting game to creating Arenfjord with his sword or pacifying the unrest dead with thunder—but to Arendellian, his deeds were more legend than history. And she didn’t see any reason this story would be different.

But Destin ignored her inquiring look and continued. “King Runeard was fascinated by that story. He wanted to restore the alliance with spirits and bring the magic back to Arendelle. He tried to communicate with spirits, like those Northuldran spirit callers did. Like divination? or meditation?” he scratched his head, trying to find a right word. “anyway, it was kinda like getting into a deep sleep and talking with them in the dream. It was very dangerous and unstable. So he needed a more direct way to speak with them.”

“What’s why you want to find Ahtohallan?” asked Elsa.

“Yes.” Destin nodded. “It was Lord Robert’s idea. He had spent lots of time with Northuldran and studied their myths, and in Northuldran myth, Ahtohallan is a very special place where the spirit’s world meets our world. They believed that a mortal can even step into the spirit’s world and meet the spirit directly when he is in Ahtohallan.”

“And did you really meet the spirits in this Ahtohallan, like face to face?” asked Kristoff curiously.

“Yes, we met one.” a trace of sadness flickered in Destin’s eyes. “But we paid a terrible price. There was an avalanche when we tried to climb that mountain the first time, and King Runeard died when he tried to a soldier. In the end, he didn’t even make to Ahtohallan.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that.” Elsa said softly, trying to comfort the sad old soldier.

“He was a good king. Sometimes, he might be too strict, but everything he did he did for Arendelle.”

“But why?” Elsa asked the one question in her mind. “why King Runeard wanted to do all of this?”

“To protect Arendelle. Lady Elsa.” for a moment, the fading glow in his eyes became bright. His voice was firm and resolute. His face assumed an expression of importance and sternness. “You should know that Arendelle is but a small kingdom, and will always be someone looking at the throne and wealth of Arendelle. We all swear to protect Arendelle at all costs, and we have to be prepared.”

Elsa’s mouth twitched slightly as she recalled what happened on her coronation day.

“But, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.” as he sighed resignedly, the glow in his eyes faded again. “that girl ruined everything. She stole the power of spirits, and no spirit wants to talk with us anymore. We are just left here to die.”

In a sudden, Elsa felt her heart clenched. She tried to remain clam, but her voice was a bit cracked and shaky. “You mean Queen Iduna stole the power of spirits? like what King Aren did?”

“Yes.” Destin turned his head away and said bitterly. “I don’t know what person she was when she became the queen. But Ande didn’t lie. It was she who brought the curse upon us.”


	11. Lord Robert Andresen

**_King Agnarr’s diary_ **

**_25th September, 1808_ **

_Father had a meeting with the leaders of_ _Northuldran people this morning. I guess it not went well. He was quite angry when he was back, saying those people was too conservative to work with. No one dared to speak to him._

_But two Northuldrans came over near noon and said that their “Spirit Caller” (according to what Iduna said, it should be this word) would like to have a talk with father. Father agreed. I wish things could get better soon._

_I also met Iduna today and heard a lot of things from her. She said that her brother died this summer because of the forest fire. I felt sorry for her, but she said I shouldn’t be. She said her brother died a hero, because he helped spirits change the direction of the fire and saved a lot of people. She was pride of him and she said one day she will be someone like him, but I can tell that she still feels sad when she told me this._

_I wonder how this so-called “spirit caller” works. It sounds fascinating._

**_27th September, 1808_ **

_Good news._

_The_ _Northuldran people agree to working with us. I guess the spirit caller father met the day before yesterday is very helpful. We will head toward north soon and look for a mysterious mountain. Northuldrans called it “_ _Ahtohalla_ _”, means “gate of spirits”. They have a rough idea where it is, but the road is too difficult to let our wagons pass. We might need to find another way._

_And great news._

_Northuldrans sent guides to help us. Five of them, including Iduna. So, even if father forbids me to join the expedition team, I won’t be bored on the journey._

_Iduna showed off her new nickname today. She picked it for herself, but she can’t have it now, not until she officially becomes a spirit caller on the next spring equinox, I think. It’s a very interesting tradition, kinda like an honorary title and is used in special occasions._

_I asked she whether I could get one of those, but she said I’m not worthy. I told her that I’m the crown prince of Arendelle, if there is anyone worthy a special name between her and me, it should be me. But she said it is something earned, not born with, and she already had something in her mind for me. She said she would call me “Man from the Sea”, if I prove to be worthy, because I have a smell of sea._

_I suspect she has never seen the sea before._

_Agnarr, the Man from the Sea, of Arendelle. Sounds not that bad._

_Not bad at all. Miss North Wind._

* * *

“Here.” squeaked Anna, while pointing at the diary. “So, what Honeymare said is true. I had an uncle, and my mom wanted to be a spirit caller.”

“Spirit caller?” asked Olaf.

“Yes, it’s some sort of Northuldran tradition.” said Anna, while reading through the dairy. “She said those people could talk to spirits and do some incredible things.”

“Like Elsa’s magic?”

Anna paused and pondered for a moment. “No, not like her magic. It’s like asking or praying to those spirits to help you, at least according to what I heard.”

Suddenly, the flap of the hut was pulled open, and Elsa got in the room. “What are you talking about?”

“Elsa is back!” Olaf cheered.

“You are back!” Anna quickly putting the diary back to her satchel and turned to the blondie with a bright grin.

“Can we have the special drink now?” Olaf turned back to Anna and asked.

“Oh, I almost forgot that.” Anna sprang up and quickly rushed out of the hut, yelling in excitement. “wait for second!”

At the time, the sky was already dusk, but Northuldrans were still busy packing things up. According to what Anna heard, Elsa had made an agreement with Northuldrans, and they all would soon head towards another big community. She watched those bustling people for a moment, then picked up the smoked kettle near the campfire and went back to the hut.

“I met a strange woman today.” the redhead rambled in excitement, causing Elsa, who just took off her cloak, to looked at her curiously. “well, it’s good strange. She knew mon, and do you know we had an uncle? and I traded my sliver broach for this.” She raised the kettle in her hand and filled a wooden mug with the dark-brown liquid inside the kettle. “I bet you will like it.” after handing the wooden mug to the blondie, the redhead filled another mug for Olaf, which made Elsa frown a bit.

“Just a little bit. It won’t be a problem.” noticing Elsa’s worried look, Anna gave a little laugh. She still remembered that the last time she let Olaf try hot chocolate, things went quite messy.

Elsa rolled her eyes at the redhead and took a sip from the mug. After a short moment of savoring, her lips curled up to a smile. “It tastes like hot chocolate.”

“I knew it!” putting down the kettle, Anna quickly fumbled a pack of jerky out of her satchel. “You haven’t eaten, have you?”

Elsa took another sip and gave a light nod. “Yes, I and Kristoff were checking the supply the whole afternoon.”

“Oh, I see.” the redhead handed several jerkies to Olaf. “Give those to Kristoff, he would love them.”

Watching the snowman bouncing out of the room, Elsa turned her head back to Anna and teased. “You traded a lot of things with your broach. Maybe next time I should let you bargain with those envoys from other countries.”

“It’s my honor.” with a bright smile, the redhead bowed exaggeratedly. “I brought you the most precious treasure of my country.” she spoke in a funny accent and offered the jerkies in her hand. “Look! Votre Majesté. the delicacies from the mysterious North.”

“Oh,” Elsa stifled a chuckle but quickly regained her composure and cleared her throat. “how sweet of you! Your Royal Highness.”

Although Anna tried to continue her little impersonation, both girls burst into laughter at the same time. Eventually, they sat side by side on the ground and shared the remaining jerkies. Those dried meat strips were as hard as the pine bark, but, in Anna’s opinion, after days of travelling, anything other than dried bread or Kristoff’s mysterious stew was welcome. They chatted about their tomorrow’s plan and the interesting things they saw in the camp. And near the end of their dinner, the topic went back to “the strange woman” Anna met.

“That woman,” Elsa swallowed the last piece of jerky and asked. “did she mention anything about mom?”

“Lots of things.” Anna spoked indistinctly with a mouthful of jerky. She leant back, resting her head on Elsa’s lap. “She was very close to the uncle dad mentioned in dad’s diary, and she said a lot of things about mom.” the redhead pouted. “by the way, she wasn’t sure what had mom done, and I’m still angry about you suspecting mom.”

“I’m sorry about that.” Elsa looked down at the redhead and said quietly. Though her tone was playful, Anna was sure that there was a fleeting trace of guilt in her sister’s face.

For a while, neither of the girls spoke. They looked at each other’s eyes, enjoying the moment of tranquility. The soft light of the lantern gave Elsa’s face a warm cast. The curve of her cheek was soft, and the tip of her nose was lovely. Her platinum hair seemed to have a faint glow and her eyes were serene and almost intoxicating. In that moment, there wasn’t a dignified ice queen, just a sister who cared about Anna with the whole of her heart.

“Elsa.” finally, the redhead broke the silence.

“Yes?”

Anna raised her hands and cupped Elsa’s face. “Let’s go home.” She swallowed the last piece of jerky in her mouth. “we found those people, and you can bring everyone out of the snowstorm. You have done enough. Those _Hisi_ are still out there. You aren’t invincible, you know?”

Elsa didn’t reply her, but Anna could felt that there was a moment of hesitation in her eyes. She knew her sister so well that she knew it was a vain request. She and Elsa had many differences, but there was one thing that they had in common—they all were too stubborn to give up the things they were determined to do.

Anyway, a moment of hesitation was enough for Anna. She sighed softly and rambled again. “Also, you must be too tired, so that you had that strange dream and lost your control of magic. But it’s a good thing that we find these people. Oh, I’m not saying that it’s a good thing that you are tired—I just think I can help you more, like running Arendelle and other things.”

“It’s not polite to say things like that to a queen.” this time, Elsa chuckled. “You sound like Hans now. Be careful, or I might convict you of overstepping.”

“I’m not a random strange you met today.” Anna grimaced at the thought of the terrible decision she made three years ago. It became a blot on her escutcheon now. Not that she hadn’t made any terrible decisions before she met that evil prince from Southern Isles, but, at least, other decisions won’t put Arendelle at risk. Suddenly, Anna felt that it might not be a good choice to let her take care of Arendelle. “I’m the closest people you can get. I’m your family.” still, she argued but her voice trailed off.

To the redhead’s surprise, Elsa bended over and kissed lightly on her forehead. “Fine. You can pick up one or two things from Kai when we are back. But, now, get some sleep, we should leave early tomorrow.”

* * *

She had that dream again.

_The snow-covered plain, the chestnut horse, one boy and one girl, and the snowstorm that veiled everything._

_She heard the boy say to the girl._

_“We will come back one day, I promise you.”_

Elsa woke up with a start.

The hut was dark and quiet, and the only thing she could hear was Anna’s steady and regular breaths. She turned over and tried to sleep again. However, the fragments of that strange dream flashed in her head again and again, making her toss and turn in the blanket. Eventually, she sat up and sighed resignedly. After fumbling for her coat and shawl, she left the hut quietly.

It was near midnight, but the moon, slightly past full, was bright enough to let her see the road. Most of Northuldrans already slept, and only a few watchmen with lanterns, who greeted her with curious looks and silent nods, were still patrolling around the camp. A young man kindly asked her whether she needed any help. She thanked him but said that she only needed to have a night walk to clear her head.

Aimlessly, she wondered through the camp and eventually stopped at the river outside the camp. Anna’s suggestion still lingered in her mind, and she had to admit it was a very attractive idea—she never had much of an adventurous spirit, and leading all Northuldrans out of the snowstorm seemed to be a decent end to their little adventure. And she certainly understood why Anna, who had an adventurous heart and had eagerly promoted this little adventure, suddenly didn’t want to continue their journey.

Then again, she thought about her mother’s letter and the untold secrets with it. What had her mother done? And why did her mother think it had something to do with her magic? Elsa twisted her fingers idly, creating a string of shinning snowflakes twirling around herself. And while she watched her snowflakes spinning in the air, she could tell that they were no longer as nimble as usual. With what happened during the daytime, she felt certain that her magic had changed slightly ever since she passed the snowstorm—something hindered her power. It was almost imperceptible but still enough to cause some trouble when she was dealing with _Hisi_. And she wondered whether this meant that there was indeed some sort of connection between her power and this strange land.

Suddenly, she heard someone cough lightly, and all the shining snowflakes fell to the ground immediately. As Elsa spun around, there was a person with a lantern standing on the road behind her.

“My Apologies for disturbing you like this, but it’s not safe here around this time at night.” said the stranger, and his voice was refined and courteous.

The man raised his lantern, allowing it to light up his clean-shaven face. He seemed to be older than Destin but was still hale and hearty. Even though his face was wrinkled and slightly droopy, and his eyebrows were all white, there was a trace of dignity telling the noble air he once had. To Elsa’s surprise, there was an embroidered tricorne on his head, and its delicate style reminded her of those officials of her grandfather’s court in the castle gallery. It was bit shabby but still in a good shape—Apparently, its owner took a great care to maintain its look.

“But, I guess you are full capable of protect yourself.” glancing at the snows on the ground, the old man added.

“I was just……practicing something.” Elsa hid her hands behind her back subconsciously, feeling like a child who was caught while playing a prank.

“Again, my Apologies.” the old man replied her a friendly smile. He shifted the lantern to the other hand, then lifted his hat with his right hand and bowed, showing his neatly brushed white hair.

“Robert Andresen.” he continued. “It’s my pleasure to meet you. I guess you must be Lady Elsa Fairhair, our great savior.”

After quickly regaining her composure, Elsa sank into a curtsy. “Please, just Elsa will do.” she replied gently. “I have heard of your fame, Lord Robert Andresen. You were the chancellor of King Runeard.”

Robert raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled. “I’m flattered that there is still someone back in Arendelle knowing my name, Lady Elsa.” Then, he glanced back towards the camp and made a gesture of invitation. “I’m sorry, but I insist that we’d better go back to the camp. It’s not safe at night nowadays.”

Elsa nodded in appreciation and followed the old man.

“I was in a nearby village this afternoon and heard a massager said that they had guests from Arendelle.” said Robert, while holding the lantern high up to illuminate the road. “and he said that a lady with ice and snow would bring us back to Arendelle. So I tried to get here as soon as possible.”

“I have the order from Queen Elena.” Elsa slightly chuckled at the name Anna came up with. “And I will bring all Arendellian back to their families.”

“Ah, yes, Queen Elena.” Robert sighed sadly. “I heard the tragedy of King Agnarr from Destin. What a pity.”

Neither of them said anything. The moonlight quietly shone over the ground and drenched everything in a sliver hue. They walked side by side on the river bank, and, for a while, Elsa felt sorry for this old man, and all the Arendellians stuck in this strange land. There were so many things happened in the last thirty years, and she wondered whether they could even recognize their homeland now.

“Lady Elsa.” eventually, Robert broke the silence. “How do you get your magic, if I may ask?”

“I……” Elsa hesitated and then said. “I don’t know. I have this power ever since I can remember.”

“But, I suppose your parents don’t have it, do they?”

Elsa looked at the old man and nodded. “No, they don’t have.”

“Sorry to hear that.” Robert turned his head to Elsa and stopped. “I guess it must be hard for you. I read enough to know that people tend to fear things they don’t know.” then, he sighed. “If only King Runeard could see your power.”

This time, Elsa remained silent. In a sense, she didn’t think she had a tragic childhood. Although it was regrettable that she had missed so many things in her life, but she never hated her parents, things could be much worse. At least, she knew that her parents and Anna always loved her and never gave up on her.

“If it starts over, I might choose differently.” Eventually, she said.

Robert nodded thoughtfully and walked again. “Lady Elsa, do you know anything about magic?”

Elsa looked at the old man curiously, wondering why he picked this topic. Indeed, people would often be awed or scared by her magic, depending on whether she could control it or not. But Robert was different. He seemed to be deeply interested by her magic, like an explorer who just found a new island, or an antiquarian who just found a new antique.

“When I was in Arendelle, I had studied magic.” And Robert proceeded, like an old soldier who was immersed in the memories of his glorious days. “back then, King Runeard wanted a miracle power to protect Arendelle forever. It was a frustrating task, to be honest, especially after you met numerous tricksters and braggarts, but we eventually found out the secrets of Northuldrans.”

“The spirits?”

“Exactly.” Robert nodded lightly. “It wasn’t that mysterious after all. As early as ancient times, people already knew how to perform blood sacrifices to please their gods. And after studied their tradition, I realized that the magic is not something in one’s physical body, it has something to do with the soul. Those spirits are the souls of Nature itself, so they surely have the power to change the world as they wish. Unfortunately, human’s soul is too weak to hold such power.”

“But…” Elsa looked at the old man and waved her fingers, sending a dance of snowflakes sweeping over the road.

“Ah, yes. I had heard the stories of gifted ones but never met a real one until today.” old Robert nodded thoughtfully. “there were surely some unconventional ways to gain the magical power. I heard a story from the southern kingdoms years ago. They said that there was a king was so fascinated by magic that he tricked a jinn, a powerful supernatural being in their myth. And he bound the jinn to his body, so that he could merge his soul with the jinn’s.”

“And what happened to this king?” asked Elsa curiously.

“He succeeded. He became the greatest king in their lands, with the power no one could imagine.” Robert stopped and moved his lantern to the side. It was until then Elsa realized that they already reached her and Anna’s hut. Robert made a gesture and continued. “But, jinn’s magic was so powerful that his soul couldn’t bear it. Every time he used his magic, his soul cracked a bit. No one knew what happened to him eventually. Some said that he released the jinn before it was too late. Some said that his soul shattered in the end, and only the jinn’s soul remained in his body.”

“And you think the same thing would happen to me?” asked Elsa.

“No, my Lady.” old Robert smiled. “Story is just story. Sorry, I shouldn’t disturb you with the nonsense of an old fogey. Please ignore my gibberish and have a nice dream.” again, the old man lifted his tricorne to bid Elsa farewell. “May the flag of Arendelle ever fly.”


	12. Heading North

They left the camp early in the morning, so early that Elsa had to pull Anna out of the blanket. The redhead barely had time to clean herself up and had to hide her messy hair under the hood of her cloak. She was sure that Kristoff noticed her embarrassment, because the mountain boy almost couldn’t keep a straight face when he saw two girls and Olaf. Luckily, Northuldrans prepared a wagon specially for them, otherwise things would become more awkward for her.

According to what Elsa told her, only a part of the camp would travel with them, and the rest would spread the news to other communities. Nevertheless, it was still a large group. There were eight reindeer-wagons and over two dozen people. Most of them were elders and children. And Anna was very happy to see that Destin and Honeymare also traveled along with them. In addition to that, she also spotted another Arendellian who greeted them with a lift of his outdated tricorne, and Elsa told her that was Lord Robert Andresen, the chancellor of King Runeard mentioned in her father’s diary.

When the line of wagons finally began to move, Anna was relieved. At least, there won’t be someone passing their wagon and noticing her crazy bedhead. What made things even better was that Elsa offered her a helping hand. And as her sister raked the comb gently over her scalp, Anna couldn’t help but beam like a spoiled child. Back in the castle, Elsa would often help the redhead brush her hair in the morning, when she wasn’t busy attending the morning conferences. Although Anna never told her sister, those intimate moments could brighten up even the grayest day in her life. 

“Oh! Hear this!”

Running her finger across the yellowish paper of his father’s diary, Anna read aloud:

_“We found a strange cave. She said it might be some sort of holy place in the past. There are very old paintings on the wall of cave, telling the story of King Aren. But it’s very different from the story I know, and some of the paintings are disturbing. She seemed to be more familiar with this version. And she said it’s a warning about the consequences of King Aren’s deeds.”_

“I can hear you loud and clear.” Elsa replied with a teasing tone, while arranging her hair. “You are basically announcing to others who we are right now.”

“I bet Dad was really into Mon back then.” Anna giggled and turned her head back to look at the blonde. “He just couldn’t talk enough about her.”

“Yes, they were close from the beginning.” Elsa nodded with a knowingly smile, then turned Anna’s head forward. “Now, don’t move, it’s almost finished.”

“Can’t you just tie them into a ponytail?” Anna sighed reluctantly. However, as an immediate retribution of her ungratefulness, she got an icy touch on the back of her neck and shrink involuntarily.

“I wonder what did Northuldran actually say about King Aren.” the redhead pouted and turned a few pages, trying to find the story her father mentioned. When the castle gate was closed, stories of heroes and adventurers became the only friends she had. And among all the legends, King Aren was her favourite. She learnt all the sagas about his great deeds, first from her parents, then from the castle library, but she never got enough of them. Now knowing his stories were also told by Northuldrans incited her curiosity again. Unfortunately, King Agnarr seemed to skip the story in his diary.

“Oh, I know that, I know that!” Olaf bounced from his seat and yelled in excitement.

Meanwhile, Elsa gave Anna a light pat on the head, suggesting her that everything was done. “Really?” asked Anna, while raising her hands to make a quick check on her new hairstyle. It was a braided crown—something she really loved but never knew how to do it without a maid’s help. She turned back to Elsa and replied the latter with a bright grin.

“I and him hung out with Ande last night.” Kristoff, who was on the coachman’s seat, cut in. “Ande told us lots of Northuldran stories. You know? He is a really cool person. You should…”as Kristoff turned his head back, he found the feisty redhead was staring at him coldly. “Anyway…” the mountain boy quickly turned his head to the snowman and added. “I’m sure you can tell them about the story.”

Although Anna knew that it was unfair to blame Andaras for slandering their mother, and what Kristoff said was probably true, she still wasn’t fond of that one-eyed old man.

“The story began with a great great hero whose name was Aren.” jumping out of his seat, Olaf rattled on with extravagant gestures, like an overexcited bard who just stepped on the stage. “Long long ago, the world was a frozen waste, and man all lived in cold and hunger. So, Aren, who was the greatest, travelled the world to find a land for his people. In his journey, he met the spirits and witnessed the great things the spirits did. He asked the spirits to help their people, but spirits were worried. Because, because…”

“They worried that the balance of Nature would be broken if they help human.” Kristoff added. “Whatever that means.”

“Right! the balance of Nature.” the snowman opened his arms in an extravagant way, making both girls chuckle. “But Aren didn’t give up. He tricked a spirit into telling him their most important secret and stole their power while they were sleeping…”

“Oh, I know this part! he created the Aren fjord and built Arendelle with that power.” Anna added in excitement. This was her favourite part of King Aren’s legend—everything King Aren did was not to boast about his might and courage, but to take care of his people, and that was why Arendellians always saw him as the greatest hero.

“Right, but please let me finish.” Olaf nodded vigorously and continued. “But the spirits were angered, and they cursed Aren, so that crops would wither on his land, and monsters would come out of woods to attack his people.”

“That’s mean.” grumbled Anna.

“To be fair,” said Kristoff. “It was Aren stole their power first.”

“But……” While Anna was going to argue with him, Olaf stopped her with a gesture.

“King Aren realized what he did was wrong,” the snowman continued. “and he and some of his followers climbed upon the sacred mountain, Ato…, Altaha…”

“ _Ahtohallan_.” again Kristoff corrected him.

“Right, strange name, the sacred mountain _Ahtohallan_. Anyway, they met four greatest spirits, and made a pact with them. The spirits would break the curse and take care of King Aren’s land, and as an exchange, they would return the power to spirits and guard the sacred mountain forever. So, King Aren and his followers settled down around the sacred mountain, and his followers became the ancestors of Northuldran.”

“I still can’t believe that grandfather would venture this north in winter just because of a story.” looking at the wilderness along the dirt road, Elsa sighed.

“It might be more than a story.” said Kristoff. “Ande said a lot of things spirits can do, well, before they stopped talking to Northuldran. I would say that if half of he said was true, those spirits could be very powerful alliance.”

“That doesn’t justify his doing.” Elsa’s voice was quiet, without any emotion. “He risked over one hundred lives, and look where they end up now.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Anna put her hand on Elsa’s and said gently. “The important thing is you are here now, and you will bring them home. I have faith in you.”

This time, Elsa didn’t say anything but just replied her a light smile and hold her hand firmly.

As the line of wagons continued travelling towards north, the land gradually got hilly. The weather was bleak, and under the grey, overcast sky, the world seemed to lose its greenness and became pale. Acres and acres of dead trunks stood or lay rotting on the rocky slopes, and even though some scattered groves could be spotted at the bottom of valleys, their trees were often sickly and stunted. Everything was shrouded in a haze of desolation and depression, as if the vitality of this land had been drained out long ago. At this point, Anna did not wonder that Northuldran thought they were cursed, for there was no better words for it.

They made a stop near a stream around noon for a short rest, and Destin kindly brought them some reindeer milk and foods. For two sisters who were trying to keep away from Kristoff’s secret stew, his visit was a timely lifeline, and the former royal guard himself was also a delightful companion. He seemed to keep numerous stories in his tall sturdy body—from decades-old anecdotes of Arendelle to King Runeard’s epic battles to the mysterious discoveries they made in Nordland, those stories quickly captivated Anna and Kristoff and made Olaf cheer like an excited child. Even Elsa would put down her food and listen closely from time to time. The lively conversation soon diluted the depressive atmosphere brought by the desolate landscape. And by the time the line of wagons began to move again, Anna still could get enough of those wonderful stories and insisted Destin to join them in the wagon.

In return, Anna also shared lots of interesting things in Arendelle nowadays, such as the new docks built during her father’s regime, the renovation of the old chapel, the popular taverns in the town, and those beautiful ships from other countries. From the glow in Destin’s eyes and the bright smile on his face, Anna could tell that he was fascinated by everything he heard. It made her feel warm and happy, for she knew that Destin must be a person who loved Arendelle with all his heart, just like her and her sister. And as the chat went on, they somehow started to gossip about the royal family. Though Elsa gave her a disapproval look, the redhead still found it was irresistibly interesting to learn the mischievous age of her father.

“OK, gosh, I think I probably said too much.” after telling the story of how Agnarr rode a wooden basin, skied down a snowy hill and broke his nose when he was eleven, Destin scratched his chin and chuckled. “Now, tell me more about Queen Elena of Arendelle. What is our new Queen like?”

Both girls paused for a second, then glanced at each other and giggled spontaneously.

“She is the greatest queen in the world.” Anna exclaimed first. “She is graceful, kind, and she really takes care of her people. She would rather face the difficulties alone than put her people in danger.” she rambled on, feeling her cheeks flush with excitement. There were so many things that she wanted to say about Elsa, not just her magic. “and, and she is the prettiest woman I have ever seen!”

“Woah, woah.” amused by Anna’s jabbering, Destin guested for her to calm down. “hold on. One at a time, girl. That’s quite a lot of compliments.”

“And she is a hundred way better than that.” Anna added.

Meanwhile, Elsa gripped Anna’s hand and stopped her. “Well, sometimes, she can be reckless.” said the blond.

“Reckless?” turning to her sister, Anna blinked in confusion. Elsa was many things, but never reckless.

“Yes, reckless and stubborn, but in a good way.” the blonde squeezed the redhead’s hand lightly but didn’t look at her. “she would do right thing at any cost, and like a sun, shinning warmth and joy for everyone. Most importantly, she loves Arendelle and her people with the whole of her heart.”

“Oh……” in a sudden, Anna realized who Elsa was talking about, and the flush on her cheeks now turned into a fever.

“Wait…” Olaf widened his eyes in confusion. “Are we still talking about the Queen now?” 

“Sounds…great.” Destin said hesitantly. “are you sure you are talking the same people?”

But when Anna tried to make some fabulous explanations, the wagon suddenly stopped.

“They pulled up.” Kristoff turned his head back and gave the girls a knowing grin. Looking ahead, Anna found they stopped at the edge of a woods. It must be a lively place before, for the trunks stood there were large and dense, creating an endless maze of pillars. However, most of the trees were either dying or dead now, leaving only numerous deformed tree trunks that pressed menacingly close against the curving dirt road and creating a dismal atmosphere for anyone who dared to enter. The wagons in front of them already stopped. Some people stood up from their wagons, trying to figure out what happened.

Rolling out of the wagon upon the ground, Destin gave two girls a reassuring smile. “I need to check out what happened. We can continue that when I’m back.”

But Anna, who already got bored of sitting on the wagon, didn’t want to waste a chance to walk around and quickly climbed off the railing. “Wait, I’m coming with you!”

Kristoff turned to Elsa with an inquiring look, and the latter gave a light nod after a short hesitation. So, they quickly got out of the seats and followed. The queue in front of them wasn’t long, after walking past three wagons, they already reached the head of the team, where several young man, who were responsible for the safety of the trip, stood idly.

“What’s wrong?” asked Destin, while raising his hand to greet with them

“Ande is checking the woods. He wants to make sure it’s safe to pass.” a young man pointed forward.

Following his finger, Anna saw Andaras, the one-eyed old man, was checking the woods watchfully with a large spirit drum in his hand.

“Hey, old man!” Destin grinned and yelled. “is everything OK?”

Turning around, Andaras opened his arms and shrugged. “Might be my paranoia.”

Then, someone yelled loudly.

“Look out!”

At the same moment, Anna saw something big rushing out of the woods and dashing towards the old man in the middle of the road. With an agile shift, Andaras barely dodged the coming attack but was still brought down heavily on the ground. And as the massive thing stopped and stood still, Anna knew they were in trouble now.

It was a nightmarish elk made of branches, bones and barks. And in this empty eye sockets, there were two red lights glowing like flames.


End file.
